Caribbean Connections Book Club

This book club is part of the Caribbean Connections program series that explores the intersection of Caribbean literature, history, the arts, and culture. Have you visited the Caribbean? Are you of Caribbean descent? Do you have an interest in the archipelago of islands nestled between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean? Then you'll want to mark your calendar to attend our upcoming Book Club Spring/Summer series.

This event will take place over Google Meet. You must register with your email address in order to receive a link to participate. The link with instructions on how to join will be sent to you via email approximately one day before the event.

You will need a device with audio and/or video and an internet/cellular connection to join.

Most online programs, including all programs hosted via Google Meet, provide closed captioning. If you would like to confirm ahead of the program or have a specific accessibility request, please email accessibility@nypl.org at least two weeks before the program date.

Link here to register.

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Check out our blogpost "Books to Celebrate Caribbean-American Heritage Month."

Tuesday, April 26, 2022, 6:30 - 7:30 PM

One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

A Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner, practicing lawyer Jones dreams up a debut novel set in sparkling Baxter Beach, Barbados, where a botched robbery by charming small-time criminal Adan reveals tensions between wealthy ex-pats and the locals who serve them. Among the characters: a mother who has lost her baby, a woman living unsteadily between the two worlds, and two men who risk everything to find a better life..

This book club is part of the Caribbean Connections program series. Please reserve your copy of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by visiting our online catalog: book, eBook and eAudio. We look forward to your participation in this online book discussion with staff.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 6:30 - 7:30 PM

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy's epic novel, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, journeys from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 - the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. Small Island follows three intricately connected stories, journeying from Jamaica to Britain, through the Second World War to 1948 - the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury.

This book club is part of the Caribbean Connections program series. Please reserve your copy of Small Island by visiting our online catalog: book, and eBook. We look forward to your participation in this online book discussion with the staff.

Tuesday, June 21, 2022, 6:30 - 7:30 PM

The Taste of Sugar by Marisel Vera

Relocating to the sugar plantations of Hawaii when their Caribbean farm is decimated by the Spanish-American War and the San Ciriaco Hurricane, two Puerto Ricans join thousands of fellow refugees in confronting the realities of American prosperity.

A Chicago-born writer based in Pittsburgh, PA, Marisel Vera is the author of The Taste of Sugar and If I Bring You Roses. Through her work, Vera explores the particular burdens that Puerto Ricans carry as colonial subjects of the most powerful country in the world.

This book club is part of the Caribbean Connections program series. Please reserve your copy of The Taste of Sugar by visiting our online catalog: book, eBook and eAudio. We look forward to your participation in this online book discussion with the staff.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 6:30 - 7:30 PM

Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique

Vibrant and emotionally riveting, Monster in the Middle moves across decades, from the U.S. to the Virgin Islands to Ghana and back again, to show how one couple’s romance is intrinsically influenced by the family lore and love stories that preceded their own pairing. What challenges and traumas must this new couple inherit, what hopes and ambitions will keep them moving forward? Exploring desire and identity, religion and class, passion and obligation, the novel posits that in order to answer the question “who are we meant to be with?” we must first understand who we are and how we came to be.

Tiphanie Yanique is the author of the award-winning novel Land of Love and Drowning, as well as the poetry collection Wife. Winner of the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel award, and a National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Award and a Fulbright scholarship. Her short fiction has been published in The New Yorker and anthologized in Best American Short Stories 2020. Originally from the Virgin Islands, she now lives in Atlanta, where she is a professor at Emory University.

This book club is part of the Caribbean Connections program series. Please reserve your copy of Monster in the Middle by visiting our online catalog: book, eBook and eAudio. We look forward to your participation in this online book discussion with the staff.