“Extremely endangered:” Urgent measures needed to save the paloma sabanera from extinction 19 Oct 4:12 PM (7 hours ago)
Génesis Ibarra Vázquez reports for El Nuevo Día: “Experts are calling for the reactivation of the captive breeding program that ended in 2003, at a time when the population of this subspecies, endemic to Puerto Rico, is believed to be less than 100 individuals. Ibarra Vázquez refers to the paloma sabanera, which translates as savannah dove, but is officially called the Puerto Rican plain pigeon—and scientifically, Patagioenas inornata wetmorei.
The distinctive song of the Puerto Rican plain pigeon is no longer heard, and its black beak, blue eyes, red legs, and white wing borders have disappeared from the foliage. At a time when the population is estimated to be less than 100 individuals, organizations, entities, and citizens joined forces to demand conservation and reintroduction measures, including the reactivation of the captive breeding program that ceased in 2003.
“There is a consensus among experts that the situation is critical for the paloma sabanera, and one more hurricane could leave us without it. Nothing more can be done because that could possibly be the end of it. And before that happens, we want—and experts recommend it—to reactivate the captive breeding program so we can ensure the species has, at least, a place where it will be protected if a catastrophe occurs and, at the same time, we can increase the wild population, which is currently declining,” said engineer Frank González, an expert on this endemic subspecies and former president of the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society.
The paloma sabanera (Patagioenas inornata wetmorei) was listed as an endangered species in 1970, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) website. It has managed to survive threats such as habitat destruction, unregulated hunting, and predation by rats and thrushes. Now, its survival faces a new challenge: the passage of increasingly intense hurricanes through the Caribbean, such as Hurricane Maria (2017), which significantly reduced its population. [. . .]
Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. For full, original article (in Spanish), see https://www.elnuevodia.com/ciencia-ambiente/flora-fauna/notas/llego-a-un-peligro-extremo-urgen-tomar-medidas-para-salvar-a-la-paloma-sabanera-de-la-extincion/T
[Photograph above by Frédéric Pelsy: The Puerto Rican plain pigeon (paloma sabanera) was listed as an endangered species in 1970, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website.]
Nuyorican Photography as Poetics: Diasporic Collage & the Loving Vision of Frank Espada 19 Oct 4:05 PM (7 hours ago)
Poet Martín Espada will be part of a panel celebrating his father’s photography of the Puerto Rican Diaspora with three photographers — Máximo Colón, David Gonzalez, and Erika P. Rodríguez — to honor the work and legacy of Frank Espada. Presented by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO), registration is free and open to the public. Please RSVP at CENTRO. This event takes place on October 22, 2025, at 6:00pm, at Centro in El Barrio, located at 2180 3rd Avenue (at East 119th Street) New York, New York.
Description: Poet Martin Espada alongside a multi-generational cohort of acclaimed Nuyorican photographers including Máximo Colon, David Rodriguez, and Erika P. Rodriguez!
Nuyorican photographers have long sought to document and preserve Puerto Rican history in the city and beyond. Their talents have gifted us some of the most inspiring, heartbreaking, and indelible images of the 21st century. Bringing together the visual and the poetic, this event honors the legacy of Frank Espada and the practice, vision, ethics, and futures of Nuyorican social documentary photography.
Afterwards, explore our exhibition, Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People, on view in the CENTRO Gallery. Click here to learn more about the exhibition, dates, and hours. To learn more about Frank Espada, check out the Frank Espada Galleries, a Frank Espada Bibliography, and the interviews with Frank Espada.
For more information and to RSVP, go to https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/event/nuyorican-photography-as-poetics-diasporic-collage-the-loving-vision-of-frank-espadas-vision/
2026 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature 19 Oct 3:17 PM (8 hours ago)
The 2026 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is open for submissions. For entry forms, eligibility and guidelines, visit Bocas Lit Fest.
The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is an annual award for literary books by Caribbean writers, first presented in 2011. Books are judged in three categories: poetry; fiction — both novels and collections of short stories; and literary nonfiction — including books of essays, biography and autobiography, history, current affairs, travel, and other genres, which demonstrate literary qualities and use literary techniques, regardless of subject matter.
There is a panel of three judges for each genre category, who determine category shortlists and winners.
The three category winners are then judged by a panel of four judges — consisting of the chairs of the category panels and the prize chair — who determines the overall winner.
The author of the book judged the overall winner will receive an award of US$10,000. The other category winners will receive US$3,000.
For entry form, eligibility and guidelines, visit https://www.bocaslitfest.com/awards/ocm/ and https://www.bocaslitfest.com/awards/ocm/guidelines/
Venezuela at the UN condemns latest US strike in Caribbean as people in Trinidad mourn 17 Oct 9:38 AM (2 days ago)
“There is a killer prowling the Caribbean,” Samuel Moncada said. “People from different countries…are suffering the effects of these massacres.” AP’s Anselm Gibbs and Dánica Coto write about Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Moncada, who condemned a recent U.S. strike on a small boat in Caribbean waters that killed six people. This occurred AFTER the UN had “urged restraint as US strikes in southern Caribbean escalate tensions with Venezuela” (UN News).
Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.N., Samuel Moncada, condemned on Thursday a recent U.S. strike on a small boat in Caribbean waters that killed six people, calling it “a new set of extrajudicial executions.”
He called on the U.N. Security Council to investigate what he called a “series of assassinations,” noting there have been five lethal attacks and 27 reported deaths since the strikes in the Caribbean began in September, targeting what U.S. officials say are suspected drug traffickers.
Among those believed to be killed in the latest strike that occurred Tuesday are two fishermen from Trinidad and Tobago, whom Moncada referenced in his speech.
As Moncada spoke at the U.N. on Thursday, people in the sleepy fishing town of Las Cuevas in northern Trinidad mourned the disappearance of Chad Joseph. His relatives believe he was killed in the strike, although they offered no other evidence that he was aboard the boat that was hit. “People are crying. Why is Donald Trump destroying families?” Afisha Clement, Joseph’s cousin, told The Associated Press. She said Joseph had moved to Venezuela six months ago and was working on farms in hopes of earning more money. [. . .]
“There is a killer prowling the Caribbean,” Moncada said. “People from different countries…are suffering the effects of these massacres.”
Only a couple of miles separate Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago at their closest point, and the ongoing military strikes have spooked fishermen in the twin-island nation.
“There is no justification at all,” Moncada said. “They are fabricating a war.” [. . .]
For full article and video, see https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-trinidad-us-strikes-fishermen-killed-5
Also see https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-asks-un-security-council-say-us-strikes-illegal-2025-10-16/ and https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/10/1166081
[Image above, screenshot from AP Video/Anselm Gibbs: Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.N., Samuel Moncada, condemned on Thursday a recent U.S. strike on a small boat in Caribbean waters that killed six people.]
New Book: “The Yoruba Are on a Rock” 17 Oct 9:17 AM (2 days ago)
We are excited to announce that Shantel A. George’s first book The Yoruba Are on a Rock: Recaptured Africans and the Orisas of Grenada is now available at Cambridge University Press. Congratulations, Shantel! [See brief description and chapter titles below.]
Description: The Yoruba Are on a Rock focuses on the Africans who arrived in Grenada decades after the abolition of the British slave trade and how they radically shaped the religious and cultural landscape of the island. Rooted in extensive archival and ethnographic research, Shantel A. George carefully traces and unpacks the complex movements of people and ideas between various points in western Africa and the Eastern Caribbean to argue that Orisa worship in Grenada is not, as has been generally supposed, a residue of recaptive Yoruba peoples, but emerged from dynamic and multi-layered exchanges within and beyond Grenada. Further, the book shows how recaptives pursued freedom by drawing on shared African histories and experiences in the homeland and in Grenada, and recovers intriguing individual biographies of the recaptives, their descendants, and religious custodians. By historicising this island’s little-known and fascinating tradition, the book advances our knowledge of African diaspora cultures and histories.
Chapters:
- 1. ‘Old Creoles’: the foundation of Grenada’s plantation society
- 2. ‘Scenes of former slavery’: abolitionism and the persistence of unfree labour
- 3. New nations: the origins and identities of recaptives
- 4. Bonds of survival: from ‘liberation’ to unfreedom
- 5. ‘Acquaintances and countrymen’: building recaptive African communities
- 6. ‘Joining their countrymen and women’: recaptive Africans after indentureship
- 7. ‘They call them the Yarriba people, it was African dance’: becoming Yoruba, becoming African
- 8. Three nights: curating African, African Grenadian, and Indian spaces
- 9. ‘In the form of the baptists’: Norman Paul and the legacies of the spiritual baptists
Shantel A. George is Lecturer in History at the University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on African-derived cultures and identities in the British Caribbean and the global circulation of African commodities.
For more information, see https://www.cambridge.org/pr/universitypress/subjects/history/atlantic-history/yoruba-are-rock-recaptured-africans-and-orisas-grenada?format=HB&isbn=9781009358965
Also see our previous post https://repeatingislands.com/2025/08/05/forthcoming-book-the-yoruba-are-on-a-rock/
World Travel Awards: Jungle Bay Dominica named Caribbean’s leading retreat 17 Oct 9:03 AM (2 days ago)
Bibiana Snyder (The Virgin Islands Daily News) writes about Jungle Bay Dominica— a destination built around sustainability, community, nature, and wellness—which was named the Caribbean’s Leading Retreat for 2025 at the World Travel Awards. She interviewed owner and president Samuel Raphael, a Dominica native who was raised on St. Croix, and who was inspired by a trip to Cinnamon Bay, St. John (one of my favorite bays in the Caribbean).
Jungle Bay Dominica was named the Caribbean’s Leading Retreat for 2025 at the World Travel Awards, adding to the island’s growing reputation as a destination for sustainable, luxury and wellness tourism.
The award was presented Oct. 4 during the World Travel Awards Caribbean & North America Gala in St. Lucia, where Dominica also received recognition as the Caribbean’s Leading Nature Destination.
“This recognition is a tremendous honor for our team and for Dominica,” Samuel Raphael, president and owner of Jungle Bay, who resides part-time on St. Croix, said. “Jungle Bay was created to be more than a resort — it’s a sanctuary where nature, community and culture intersect. Winning this award affirms that our vision of sustainable luxury and purpose-driven hospitality continues to resonate with travelers and industry leaders alike.”
Raphael, a Dominica native who was raised on St. Croix, said he was inspired to adopt a life philosophy of environmental conservation and community development after a fifth-grade school trip from St. Croix to Cinnamon Bay, St. John, an experience that shaped his vision for Jungle Bay and his approach to tourism in the Caribbean. [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/world-travel-awards-jungle-bay-dominica-named-caribbean-s-leading-retreat/article_2caccb89-b8d3-4254-b255-89f81876f55b.html
Catherine-Esther Cowie shortlisted for T.S. Eliot Prize 16 Oct 9:30 AM (3 days ago)
The Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) team announced today that St. Lucian-born Catherine-Esther Cowie is now on the shortlist for the 2025 T. S. Eliot Prize for her debut collection, Heirloom (Carcanet Press, 2025). The Shortlist Readings will take place on Sunday, January 18, 2026, at 7:00pm at the Southbank Centre, in London, followed by the Award Ceremony on Monday, January 19, 2026. Here is the announcement by BCLF.
We’re thrilled to celebrate Catherine-Esther Cowie, whose debut collection, Heirloom, has been shortlisted for the 2025 T. S. Eliot Prize, one of the most prestigious poetry awards in the world.
Inaugurated by the Poetry Book Society in 1993, the T. S. Eliot Prize honours the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland each year. The 2025 shortlist was selected by a distinguished panel of poets, Michael Hofmann, Patience Agbabi, and Niall Campbell, from among 177 collections submitted by 64 publishers.
This year’s shortlist features ten outstanding poets, including two debuts, two sophomore collections, four returning nominees, and one former winner.
Born in St. Lucia to a Tobagonian father and St. Lucian mother, Catherine-Esther Cowie migrated with her family to Canada and later to the United States. Her work has appeared in PN Review, Prairie Schooner, West Branch Journal, The Common, SWWIM, Rhino Poetry, and more. She is a Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop fellow, and her debut poetry collection Heirloom (Carcanet Press) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and also shortlisted for the Forward Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection.
We were honored to host Catherine-Esther earlier this year during our Poetry Pop-Up at the Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturday Series, where she shared work from Heirloom with our BCLF community. [. . .]
To view the full shortlist, see https://tseliot.com/prize/t-s-eliot-prize-2025-shortlist-great-range-suggestiveness-and-power/
Also see https://tseliot.com/prize/person/catherine-esther-cowie/ and https://www.bklyncbeanlitfest.org/
New Book: “Port-au-Prince Cotonou. Un écho sans retour” 16 Oct 9:03 AM (3 days ago)
Philomé Robert’s Port-au-Prince Cotonou: Un écho sans retour [Port-au-Prince Cotonou: An Echo with No Return] was published in July 2025 by Caraïbéditions.
Description: Set in Haiti, in the 1940s, at the end of the bloody American occupation and while World War II rages. Two young people, Léonce and Nortilia, inspired by a character as whimsical as he is mysterious, vow to leave the island as soon as the opportunity arises.
The times are turbulent, full of threats and hopeless futures. What if Africa were opening its arms to them? What is this strange bond that draws them to the land of their ancestors? Patiently, over time, with the upheavals of a changing world, despite the assaults of the pro-Duvalier Fascists, they build the road that takes them to the crossroads of African independence, the one in which Haitians played a decisive but little-known role.
Philomé Robert is a journalist atFRANCE 24. After studying law, he began his career at Radio Vision 2000 in Haiti, before working with RFI. In 2006, he joined FRANCE 24, where he presents the weekend morning shows. He is the author of Exil au crepuscule: De Port-au-Prince à Paris, récit du voyage forcé d’un journaliste haïtien (co-published by RFI, Apopsix, 2012) and Vagabondages éphémères (Caraïbéditions, 2022).
Port-au-Prince Cotonou. Un écho sans retour
Caraïbéditions, 2025
168 pages
ISBN: 9782373112375
For more information, see https://www.caraibeditions.fr/romans-en-francais/782-port-au-prince-cotonou-un-echo-sans-retour.html and https://www.fnac.com/a21752450/Philome-Robert-Port-au-Prince-Cotonou
Carter splashes to World Cup Bronze 16 Oct 8:25 AM (3 days ago)
In “Carter splashes to World Cup Bronze 50m Backstroke,” Devika Ragoonanan (Caribbean Life) reports that swimmer Dylan Carter won the bronze medal for Trinidad and Tobago at the men’s 50-metre backstroke event at the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Carmel, Indiana.
Record holder and champion swimmer Dylan Carter splashed to the bronze medal in the final of the men’s 50-metre backstroke event at the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Carmel, Indiana, United States. A great accomplishment for Carter after he got a disappointing fourth place finish in the 50-metre freestyle final.
Carter entered the pool in lane four, with the fastest reaction time of 0.52 and touched the wall in a time of 23.00 seconds. The result earned him 888 points as he turned his focus on the 50-metre butterfly.
The race was won by Hungary’s Hubert Kos, who, despite a reaction time of 0.56, finished for the gold medal in 22.65 seconds. Ralf Tribuntsov of Estonia secured the silver medal in 22.91 seconds.
Earlier, Carter splashed to the final from heat three, claiming the top spot in a time of 22.92 seconds. The T&T swimmer also benefited from a total of 897 points for his achievement.
Carter was one of just two swimmers to have qualified out of the heat. His close rival and competitor, Jack Alexy of the United States, claimed the other qualifying spot by finishing in the second position in 23.52 seconds. His finish earned him 830 points. [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.caribbeanlife.com/carter-splashes-to-world-cup-bronze-50m-backstroke/
[Photo above by Maja Hitij/Getty Images: Dylan Carter of Trinidad and Tobago prior to the Men’s 100m Freestyle Final during the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 – Meet 1 on Oct. 7, 2023, in Berlin, Germany.]
Caribbean coral reefs are running out of time to keep up with rising seas 15 Oct 1:56 PM (4 days ago)
In layman’s terms, Chris Perry, Christopher Cornwall, and Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip share information about a new study. See The Conversation (17 September 2025) for full article, videos, and photos.
Caribbean coral reefs are sounding the alarm. These ecosystems, which protect millions of people and sustain billion-dollar industries, are on the verge of collapse – not in some distant future, but within our lifetimes.
We have been studying reefs across the western Atlantic region for more than 25 years to understand the ways reef communities are changing, and how this affects their ability to keep growing.
Our new research shows that reefs across the region are now reaching a point where they will no longer keep pace with sea-level rise. This will affect the ability of reefs to buffer coastlines from wave energy, threatening nearshore habitats.
Unless global warming by 2100 is limited to below 2°C (relative to pre-industrial levels), our study suggests nearly every reef will stop growing – and most will start eroding by the end of this century. The consequences for coastal communities will be severe.
Coral reefs aren’t just attractive dive sites. They are living breakwaters: dampening wave energy, reducing storm damage, and creating sheltered environments for habitats like seagrass meadows that serve as fish nurseries. Lose the reef structure and you don’t just lose biodiversity – you expose shorelines, weaken food security, and put lives at risk.
Globally, reefs protect an estimated 5.3 million people and coastal assets worth more than US$100 billion (£74 billion) every decade. Even if reef decline seems like a distant issue for many, the changes taking place now – and the consequences of these changes in future – are illustrative of what happens when regional ecosystems pass thresholds for their persistence.
Many of the world’s coastal ecosystems, which also provide protection and habitable land, are equally threatened – with implications for us all.
Historically, Caribbean reefs grew upward at rates averaging 4–5 millimetres a year – fast enough to keep up with past sea level changes. Our research shows that their average growth rate has slowed to less than 1 millimetre per year, or just a centimetre each decade.
Reefs have been battered for decades by overfishing, disease outbreaks and pollution. Climate change is accelerating their decline; a trend we have been monitoring at many reef sites. Unprecedented levels of thermal stress occurred in 2023 and 2024 across the western Atlantic, leading to widespread coral bleaching.
Rising ocean temperatures can kill corals outright, slow the growth of surviving corals and increase coral vulnerability to disease, while simultaneously driving sea levels higher.
This “double squeeze” means reefs are moving in the wrong direction. Instead of building upward as sea levels rise, many are starting to erode. Our new modelling shows that by 2040, more than 70% of Caribbean reefs will be in states where their structures are starting to erode away. If warming passes 2°C, that figure rises to over 99% by 2100. [. . .]
We then combined this with ecological data collected during diving surveys to determine the types and abundance of corals that contribute to reef building. These surveys were conducted on more than 400 modern reef sites across the region. We collected data on corals and other marine species, such as parrot fish and urchins, that contribute to reef building. [. . .]
By 2060 under such warming, reefs in the region are likely to see an extra 30–40cm of water above today’s levels. By 2100, the figure could reach in excess of 70cm and would exceed one metre under higher warming trends. The consequences will be stark: reduced storm protection, faster shoreline erosion, disrupted ecosystems and damaged infrastructure.
We also investigated whether reef restoration could reverse these trends. Efforts to plant corals and breed heat-tolerant strains are under way and offer some hope. In small areas, with enough resources, they have been shown to boost growth and recovery.
However, the scale of the problem – thousands of square miles of reef – means restoration alone is very unlikely to be enough. Cutting emissions is critical to halting declines in reef growth, and essential to give restoration efforts any chance. [. . .]
For full article, see https://theconversation.com/caribbean-coral-reefs-are-running-out-of-time-to-keep-up-with-rising-seas-new-study-265203
Also see Perry, C.T., de Bakker, D.M., Webb, A.E. et al. “Reduced Atlantic reef growth past 2 °C warming amplifies sea-level impacts.” Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09439-4
[Photo above by Lauren T Toth, CC BY-NC-ND: A degraded reef crest in the Caribbean island of St Croix.]