“CARIBBEAN NARRATIVES: HISTORY, HEROES & HEALING” – PANEL

DIANNELY ANTIGUA is a Dominican American poet and educator who was born and raised in Massachusetts. She is the author of Ugly Music (YesYes Books), which won the Pamet River Prize and a 2020 Whiting Award, and Good Monster (Copper Canyon Press). Antigua received her MFA at New York University and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, CantoMundo, Community of Writers, and the Fine Arts Work Center. From 2022-2024, Antigua served as the poet laureate of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the first person of color to receive the title. She hosts the Bread & Poetry podcast.

GEOFFREY PHILP, a Jamaican poet, novelist, and playwright, is the founder of respectgarvey.com. His works include Garvey's Ghost, Marcus and the Amazons, and the poetry collection Letter from Marcus Garvey. His work has garnered accolades, including the Marcus Garvey Award for Community Service from the Rootz Foundation and the Marcus Garvey Excellence Award in Education (2022) from the Consulate General of Jamaica in Miami. Through his writing and community engagement, Philp continues to honor and extend the legacy of Marcus Garvey, inspiring new generations to embrace Garvey's philosophies of empowerment and unity.

MERLE COLLINS was born in Aruba to Grenadian parents, who returned to Grenada soon after her birth. During the Grenada Revolution, she served as a coordinator for research on Latin America and the Caribbean for the Grenadian government before leaving the country in 1983. She is the author of three novels: Ocean Stirrings: A Work of Fiction in Tribute to Louise Langdon Norton Little, Working Mother and Activist, Mother of Malcolm X and Seven Siblings (Peepal Tree Press Ltd.), which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the OCM Bocas Award for Caribbean Literature; Angel (Peepal Tree Press Ltd.); and The Colour of Forgetting (Peepal Tree Press Ltd.). She is also the author of the short story collection The Ladies are Upstairs (Peepal Tree Press Ltd.) and three critically acclaimed collections of poetry. Collins recently retired from teaching Caribbean literature at the University of Maryland.

SHARON CORINTHIAN is a mother, a poet, an aspiring writer, a blogger, and an entrepreneur. She migrated to the U.S. from Jamaica at the age of 8, and because of her heavy accent, was picked on and made fun of by her peers. This left a lasting impression on her and showed her the power of words. Memories of her years in Jamaica inspired her first poem, The Cradle of Joy. Since, she has used her words to capture her thoughts and the thoughts of others in a positive way – turning tragedies into triumphs. She has blogged for several outlets including The Caribbean Current, an online magazine that focuses on the people, places, and things of the Caribbean Islands. Additionally, she has also produced and hosted "In Our House," a platform that highlights people in and around the community doing positive things to uplift their fellow humans. As a spoken-word artist, she has written and performed her works for several local organizations, such as P.A.L.A.S., My Brother’s Keeper; Jerk Fest, The Cradle of Joy; and the Consulate General of Jamaica Fundraising Benefit, Who Will Stand In The Gap. As an entrepreneur, she was co-owner of Caribbean Medley Organic Juice Company (2019-2021) and is presently the owner of Sweet Madam Blu Mellow Munchies, an organic cookie company.