Book Launch – A Different Booklist

BY: LEANNE BENN 

There’s nothing better than the warm words of literature to transport you to another world on a chilly autumn evening. Found in the heart of Toronto, A Different Booklist is the home to many cultural heartbeats and it is more than just a bookstore, it proves to be a cultural hub, with a range of multicultural artifacts and home to the book of many Caribbean authors.

November 10^th was another night to celebrate as the store hosted the book launch of  two Trinidadian born female Caribbean writers. Madeline Coopsammy and Glynis Guevara. These women were the special guests of the night in an intimate and cozy ceremony to mark their latest literary accomplishments.

Guests were treated to various selected readings by both authors who were able to independently transport listeners to their native land of Trinidad and Tobago.

In the first reading, Madeline Coopsammy spoke about her book entitled The Old Songs: the book is reflective of Coopsammy’s past growing up in Trinidad while it was still a British Colony. As no surprise, her fictional young adult novel, The Old Songs is set in the 1950’s and follows Tessa Joseph in her coming of age tale while growing up in the unsettled and ever changing British island colony.

Tessa’s East Indian background plays a big role in the novel as there are mentions of the changing social and racial dynamics with Europeans, Africans, Mixed race, Chinese, Syrians and Portuguese who have all settled on this island. Tessa’s story is focused on the prejudices she sees from her family and the beginning of cultural traditions that have held on firmly in Trinidad.

As Coopsammy explained, the name of the book, The Old Songs is a quotation from a poem by the late and famed St Lucian poet, Derek Walcott. Her novel manages to reflect the racial and class hierarchy under British rule that many other Caribbean countries have dealt with. Coopsammy clearly expresses Tessa’s journey through society as she aims to focus on education as a means to climb out of poverty and to break free from issues of racism that plagues her life growing up. The novel explores new life, issues of change and historical dramas, which really transports the reader into this time period. The Old Songs was published in October 2018 and accompanies Coopsammy’s poetry book entitled Prairie Journey published in 2004.

Glynis Guevara was the second author of the evening to partake in selections of her book, Black Beach. With many undertones of island life, Guevara tells the fictional tale of Tamara, a teenager growing up in a rural fishing community on a Caribbean island. The book explores emotional issues such as mental health, family dynamics, friendships, relationships and even environmental factors such as an oil spill which eventually brings havoc to the small village of La Cresta. This young adult novel is reflective of growth, uncertainty, instability and the outlook of the future, while describing scenes easily imagined in island life. As Guevara even stated, while doing research for the book, she visited Maracas Bay in Trinidad and spoke to local fisherman about their daily lives and to get a sense of sea life.

The entire story of Black Beach was inspired by a real oil spill that took place in Trinidad around 2013, that caused devastating consequences for many of the island’s animals and killing many mangrove trees which in turn changed the entire ecosystem.

While Black Beach focused a lot on transformation it was also reflective of Guevera’s personal life and the challenges that led her to begin working on this book. The book in turn, ended up being her second young adult novel, since her debut novel, Under the Zaboca Tree from 2017. Black Beach was published in September 2018. 

Caribbean authors will always continue to inspire many around the world as they reveal insight into the cultural life of many Caribbean homes and general island life as a whole while exploring issues of the past in turn while waiting for the challenges of the future. For more information on these books and the wonderful and talented women behind them: Madeline Coopsammy and Glynis Guevara, visit A Different Booklist online or visit their store at 779 Bathurst Street in downtown Toronto.