Reading enthusiasts were treated to a special Evening of Tea and Readings on June 14 at Hotel Normandie, hosted by Paper Based Bookshop.
Scores of attendees packed the room as local authors such as Celeste Mohammed, Richard Charran, Ann Lakhan, RSA Garcia, and Ryan Bachoo read from their latest works.
Mohammed had the room frequently erupting in laughter and eager to hear what came next as she read from her new novel, Ever Since We Small. Written almost entirely in Trinidadian dialect, the book is especially impactful when heard in the author’s own voice. Veteran writer Charran was another standout, using his reading to reflect on the changing landscape of journalism.
He encouraged his fellow writers not to lose hope in the age of artificial intelligence. Charran read from his latest novel, The Village of One, pausing at one point to ask, “What of our cultural history? The histories of the people who actually made this place?”
Some of the essays in his book—The Last Rum Shopkeeper, Love on the Wharf, and The Story of Leon Horace Park—highlight the everyday lives of people in T&T.
As Charran explained, “This is a book about small, sacred lives. Secret loves. Forgotten people. The marginalised. And a reminder that when someone like Hugo Quan Vie dies, a piece of Trinidad and Tobago is forever lost—and we are poorer for it.”
Guardian Media journalist Ryan Bachoo read from his debut novel, An Unending Search, which was launched in January.
Lakhan shared a series of poems that took listeners on an emotional and, at times, exhilarating journey. Garcia read from two of her works, including The Nightward.