Kali­fa Clyne

Trinidad's crim­i­nal un­der­world will be ex­posed over the next month as book lovers pe­ruse the book Trinidad Noir (Black Trinidad) dur­ing the Na­tion­al Li­brary and In­for­ma­tion Sys­tems (Nalis) coun­try­wide read­ing pro­gramme, One Book One Com­mu­ni­ty (OBOC).The pro­gramme was launched yes­ter­day dur­ing a short cer­e­mo­ny cel­e­brat­ing the se­lec­tion of the 18-sto­ry an­thol­o­gy, ex­pect­ed to spur dis­cus­sions, read­ings, drama­ti­sa­tions and oth­er ac­tiv­i­ties through­out the coun­try.Ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor of Nalis, An­nette Wal­lace, said the pro­gramme recog­nised the im­por­tance of lo­cal writ­ers.

"It is im­per­a­tive that we pro­mote lo­cal writ­ers, it is from lo­cal au­thors that we get a sense of self," said Wal­lace.Lisa Allen-Agos­ti­ni, who co-edit­ed the an­thol­o­gy with Jeanne Ma­son, said she hoped the pub­lic would use the sto­ries as a spring­board to dis­cuss the crime sit­u­a­tion.She said though most peo­ple liked to ig­nore the sit­u­a­tion in Trinidad, crime was a re­al­i­ty and Trinidad Noir gave a look at the dark side of the is­land's life.She said that it was a hum­bling ex­pe­ri­ence to see the an­thol­o­gy next to books such as Sir VS Naipaul's Miguel Street and Earl Lovelace's The School­mas­ter, which had been used for OBOC dis­cus­sions in pre­vi­ous years.