“EMERGING CARIBBEAN VOICES: STORIES OF SELF-DISCOVERY & TRANSFORMATION” – PANEL

ESKOR DAVID JOHNSON is a writer from Trinidad and Tobago, acclaimed for his imaginative storytelling and exploration of urban life. A graduate of Harvard University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received recognition for his distinct narrative style and compelling character portrayals. His debut novel, Pay As You Go (2023), delves into the gritty realities of urban existence through the journey of Slide, a barber navigating the challenges of city life in the fictional metropolis of Polis. The book is praised for its vibrant prose and inventive storytelling, capturing the complexities and aspirations of its characters. Johnson's work has been featured in publications like BOMB magazine and McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and he has been shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize​.

JULIANA LAMY, the author of You Were Watching from the Sand: Short Stories (Red Hen Press), received a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard College. She also won the Harvard University Le Baron Russell Briggs Undergraduate Fiction Prize and the Gordon Parks Essay Prize for Nonfiction. Lamy also received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She currently lives in South Florida, where she was raised after immigrating with her family from Haiti.

SORAYA PALMER is the author of The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts: A Novel (Catapult), her debut work. She is a Brooklyn, New York, born-and-raised writer and licensed social worker who advocates for survivors of gender-based violence who are facing criminal charges related to their abuse. She has also spent time as a community organizer for young people who fight against gentrification and police brutality. Her writing has appeared in Electric Literature, Hazlitt, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. She has been awarded a residency at Blue Mountain Center and graduated from the Virginia Tech MFA program. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Nicholas.