Visions & Voices: Conversations with Fourteen Caribbean Playwrights

For those interested in theatre and Caribbean literature, 2014 marks the release of a seminal collection, Olivier Stephenson's Visions & Voices: Conversations with Fourteen CaribbeanPlaywrights.

Featuring the words of the most important of the first generation of postcolonial playwrights-some of whom are still alive-this exploration presents expansive personalities such as Errol Hill, Errol John, Trevor Rhone, and Dennis Scott, discussing their experiences of working in the Caribbean, the UK and North America; their struggles to survive as artists; perceptions of the relationship between their work and the region's socio-political condition; views on the relationship between their work and the art of other playwrights; and their attempts to build popular audiences and develop a Caribbean theatre aesthetic.

"Without exception, these playwrights were engaged artists and their work never lost sight of the sociopolitical dynamics of the region. For this reason, their words offer us a way to understand, at least in part, the role of the playwright in Caribbean society. I sincerely believe that a lot of what was said in the interviews still holds true to the present time." ~ Kwame Dawes.

Visions & Voices: Conversationswith Fourteen Caribbean Playwrights is a unique collection of interviews with prominent Caribbean playwrights of the 1970s: Derek Walcott, Errol Hill, Errol John, Michael Abbensetts, Trevor Rhone, Alwyn Bully, Roderick Walcott, Edgar White, Slade Hopkinson, Lennox Brown, Carmen Tipling, Dennis Scott, Stafford Ashani Harrison and Mustapha Matura.

About Olivier Stephenson

Olivier Stephenson is a poet, a playwright, a screenwriter, and a journalist. He is the former executive director and a founding member of the Caribbean American Repertory Theatre in New York City and Los Angeles. He currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Publication date: 1 December 2013

ISBN: 9781845231736

Pages: 436

Price: £19.99 /$39.95

Publisher: Peepal Tree Press

17 King's Avenue, Leeds, LS6 1QS, United Kingdom

Tel/Fax: +44 (0)113 2451703

www.peepaltreepress.com

About the Press

Peepal Tree Press is home of the best in Caribbean and Black British fiction, poetry, literary criticism, memoirs and historical studies.

Peepal Tree is a wholly independent company based in Leeds, founded in 1985, and now publishing around 25 books a year. We have published over 250 titles, and are committed to keeping them in print. The list features new writers and established voices. In 2009 we launched the Caribbean Modern Classics Series, which restores to print essential classic books from the 1930s - 70s. We are grateful for financial support from Arts Council England. We are also home to Inscribe, a national project which supports writers of African & Asian descent.

Review Copies

For review copies, images, interviews or for more information email hannah@peepaltreepress.com