​Thank you to Trinidad and Tobago Newsday for this feature as we celebrate International Women's Day!

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Credit to artist Rudolph Bissessarsingh
Rice is a staple food in Trinidad and Tobago as in other countries of the world. At the end of the Indentureship period when immigrants from India were allowed to buy lands instead of a return passage to India (post 1860) many of them bought plots in swampy areas like Cunupia where they grew rice as the staple product. Rice, harvested from the rice fields also known as "Dhan " was spread out to dry in front of the dwelling houses of the rice farmers and then stored, being husked and cleaned as the need of the household demanded. An acre of land could produce enough rice to feed a family of 7 for a year or more.
​(Source: Angelo Bissessarsingh Virtual Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, Feb 5, 2024)

​IRA MATHUR (Source: Trinidad Guardian, Feb 24, 2024)

Chaguanas-born Trinidadian author Kevin Jared Hosein’s novel Hungry Ghosts (Bloomsbury Publishing Feb 2023) has been longlisted for one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world–the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

Hosein’s novel has been described by celebrated historical writer, the late Hilary Mantel, as “deeply impressive”, and Bernardine Evaristo, president of the Royal Society of Literature, called his historical novel “linguistically gorgeous”.

The prize was founded in 2009 and is traditionally awarded at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland, in June every year. The winner receives £25,000, and shortlisted authors each receive £1,500. The shortlist for the prize will be announced in May and the winner in June 2024.

Hosein shared the Walter Scott longlist link on his Facebook page on February 22 by calling the news “incredible”, and adding his book was with “massive company”.

The 2024 judging panel includes Katie Grant (chair), James Holloway, Elizabeth Laird, James Naughtie, Kirsty Wark and Saira Shah.

In a press release announcing the longlist, the chair of Judges, Katie Grant, said:

“This year’s longlist sweeps us from one end of the world to the other and from the Dark Ages to the twentieth century–almost a millennium-and-a-half. Along the way, we hear tales of fifteenth-century Norwich and of the Highland Clearances of the 1800s; of the secret railroad through the Americas during the mid-nineteenth century and of forbidden love in London at the turn of the twentieth; from tropical Jamaica to Japan and Korea in the late 1800s, and to sultry Penang as the twentieth-century dawns; onwards to Trinidad, to Rome, to Crete and to New Zealand during the Second World War years; and to London and Paris in the swinging 1960s when anything seems possible.

“In each book, emotions run deep from the epic to the intimate, from the philosophical to the swashbuckling, and from the traditional to the experimental. If you read the whole list, just like the panel of judges, you’ll never be short of conversation. Longlisted authors this year encompass a range of nationalities, including Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, Malaysian and Trinidadian.”

The Walter Scott Prize is sponsored by the Duke of Buccleuch, and “celebrates quality, innovation and ambition of writing.”

In 2022, Trinidadian/Irish writer Amanda Smyth’s novel Fortune (Peepal Tree Press), based in Trinidad in the 1920s, was shortlisted for the prestigious prize.

An early review of Hungry Ghosts by Teresa White in The Sunday Guardian described Hosein’s novel set in barracks in 1940s Trinidad.

“If traditional Trinidadian working-class narratives take place in the East Dry River yard (The Dragon Can’t Dance and Moon on a Rainbow Shawl come immediately to mind), Hungry Ghosts takes place in the shared space of the Caroni Plain barrack room. The emerging themes are similar: hunger, desire, ambition and the complete absence of privacy. But the exposed Central landscape lays humanity poignantly bare:

“Here, the snakes’ calls blurred with the primaeval hiss of wind through the plants. Picture en plein air, all shades of green with vermillion soaked with red and purple and ochre. Picture what the good people call fever grass, wild caraille, shining bush, timaries, tecomarias, bois gris, bois canot, christophene, chenette, moko, moringa, pommerac, pommecythere, barbadine, barthar. Humanity as ants on the Savannah.”

Hosein’s previous books, The Repenters and The Beast of Kukuyo were longlisted by the International Dublin Literary Award. The Beast of Kukuyo won a CODE Burt Award for Caribbean Young Adult Literature. Earlier this year Hosein was longlisted for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize

In 2022, Trinidadian/Irish writer Amanda Smyth’s novel Fortune (Peepal Tree Press), based in Trinidad in the 1920s, was shortlisted for the prestigious prize.

The 12 novels in contention for the £25,000 prize are:

• THE NEW LIFE Tom Crewe (Chatto & Windus)

• A BETTER PLACE Stephen Daisley (Text Publishing)

• HUNGRY GHOSTS Kevin Jared Hosein (Bloomsbury)

• FOR THY GREAT PAIN, HAVE MERCY ON MY LITTLE PAIN Victoria MacKenzie (Bloomsbury)

• MUSIC IN THE DARK Sally Magnusson (John Murray)

• CUDDY Benjamin Myers (Bloomsbury)

• MY FATHER’S HOUSE Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)

• THE FRAUD Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton)

• MISTER TIMELESS BLYTH Alan Spence (Tuttle)

• THE HOUSE OF DOORS Tan Twan Eng (Canongate)

• IN THE UPPER COUNTRY Kai Thomas (Penguin Canada)

• ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER Rose Tremain (Chatto & Windus)

Ira Mathur is a Guardian Media writer and the 2023 Non-Fiction Bocas Prize for Literature winner. www.irasroom.org

Miss World Trinidad and Tobago, Aché Abrahams debuted her national costume during the Miss World Opening Ceremony in India on Tuesday, February 21. Abrahams proudly introduced herself as T&T’s representative, noting that the nation is famous for its steelpan, soca and Carnival.
Her costume, designed by Lost Tribe’s Solange Govia, depicted the Fancy Sailor and channelled the Golden Era of Sailor Mas portrayals, which the designer said acknowledged “the sophistication, vibrancy and power of the mas character.”
Govia explained: “I also started thinking about being a woman in the Carnival industry, and the fact that is also my duty to always honour our womanhood in these sacred traditions. I always want my costumes to remind people that there will always be a place and space for female representation in mas, and I am grateful that Val allowed me this amazing creative opportunity to challenge my design instincts, to inject this sense of femininity and grace into this design, and to just create freely.”
The designer provided some insight into the design elements of the stunning costume.
“From the embellished hat, to the towering collar, to the classic stick, I wanted to pay homage to the opulence that the Sailor Mas experience brings to the streets of Port of Spain. Of course, there had to be a design twist in this Fancy Sailor – the sand-coloured feathered skirt that replaced the bell-bottom pants, to not only represent the first visit of British, French and American naval ships in our nation’s history, but to also highlight where the Caribbean Sea meets the T&T shoreline,” she continued.
“For me, it is this simple reminder that through every storm, women have become ‘the glue’ to the Carnival experience. We bring these powerful elements together to define our legacy, and we will always be pivotal in pushing the winds of change forward,” Govia concluded.
The costume will again grace the stage for the Dances of the World segment.
The Miss World 2024 pageant takes place Saturday, March 9 from 10am - 1pm AST. (Source: The Loop, Feb 21, 2024)

inister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Kazim Hosein toured a rice project which is intended to revitalise the local rice industry, with the help of disease-resistant seeds from Guyana. 
In an update, the Ministry shared photos of Agriculture Minister Kazim Hosein on a tour of the project today. 
The Ministry said in 2023 it procured and distributed 91 tonnes of high-yielding, disease-resistant rice seeds from the government of Guyana—an essential step towards enhancing the quality and quantity of the country's rice production.
The Ministry said the project has not only met but exceeded acreage cultivation targets set by MALF's technical team.
The Ministry said other notable achievements of the project include contracts issued to individual rice farmers by National Flour Mills, repairs and servicing of MALF's Rice Harvester and other equipment, and ongoing training sessions introducing modern production techniques.
Currently, Minister Hosein is actively spearheading the identification of new lands for rice production—a strategic initiative aligned with the Ministry's growth objectives. 


In 2022 regional leaders attended the Agri Investment Forum and Expo II to discuss food security and creating the easier movement of goods and services within the region. 
CARICOM has committed to a 25 per cent reduction in its regional food import bill by 2025.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the combined food import bill (FIB) for the 14 Caribbean Community member states sky-rocketed from US$2.08 billion in 2000 to US$4 billion in 2008, and surpassed the US$4.25 billion mark in 2011. (Source: The Loop, Jan 22, 2024)

​The national bird of Tobago is the Rufous-vented chacalaca, locally called the Cocrico because of their call. Main Ridge, Tobago. (Credit: Jerome E. Foster Photography)