[Many thanks to Linda Rodríguez Guglielmoni for bringing this item to our attention.] The Caribbean Writer (TCW) has issued a call for submissions for Volume 40 under the 2026 theme: “40 years of The Caribbean Writer: A Spectrum of Representation.” The deadline for abstracts is November 30, 2025. Visit The Caribbean Writer for submission guidelines.
The Caribbean Writer (TCW) has issued a call for submissions for Volume 40 under the 2026 theme: 40 years of The Caribbean Writer: A Spectrum of Representation.
In addition to the usual call for creative works, we are also issuing a Call for Papers (CFP) focused on the diverse themes explored in The Caribbean Writer over the years, highlighting how our shared humanity emerges through the discourse present in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. As an international journal, The Caribbean Writer continues to investigate our humanity at home and in the diaspora in an ever-changing world. Through its dynamic publications, it has remained impactful for over four decades. Papers will be presented at the anniversary symposium scheduled for April 2026 and published in an anniversary supplement of The Caribbean Writer.
Abstracts will be reviewed by a scholarly panel of seven. Successful papers will be published in a TCW supplement while selected authors will be invited to present their papers at the Conference to be held at the University of the Virgin Islands, St Croix campus.
Using the TCW journal as a reference point, authors are invited to explore the themes, subjects, motifs, and topics over the 40 years of The Caribbean Writer and present a scrupulous analysis in one of the following contexts:
1. Building Regional Community, Connections and Transformations
2. Calypso and Conflict: Music and Politics in the Literature
3. Voices of the Diaspora: Migration and Belonging
4. Negotiating Nuances of Legacy, Ethnicity, Hybridity, Identity
5. Masculinity as a Navigational Theme in Caribbean Communities
6. Rewriting History: Literature as a Tool for Social Change
7. How Language Shapes Meaning in Caribbean Text
8. Myths, Monsters, and Morality: Universal Archetypes
9. The Art of Protest: Caribbean Literature as Resistance
10. Women, Sexuality, and Identity
11. Negotiating Borders and Walls: Expressions in the Literature
12. The Caribbean Writer as a Force of Representation
13. Themes Across The Caribbean Writer
14. Visual Art as a Channel for Caribbean Literature
15. Governance and the Complexities of Power Dynamics
16. Disruption as a Motif in the Literature
17. Memory as a Force in the Literature
18. How Environment, Nature and Land Development Shape Property Ownership
19. Food as a Translation of Fellowship, Community and History
20. Contemporary Musings: Literature, Academia and the Canon
IMPORTANT DATE CHANGES
The proposal’s abstract (or summary) should be no more than 300 words. Abstracts are due by November 30, 2025. Kindly note that submissions for volume 40 will be accepted through December 16, 2025.
Papers should be based on the analysis of the journal’s published works. We invite you to visit the websites below to reacquaint yourselves with our publications, beginning with the first issue released in 1987:
Digital Library of the Caribbean
https://www.dloc.com/
Volumes 1 through 30 (free to view)
The Caribbean Writer website
https://www.thecaribbeanwriter.org/product-category/volumes/
Volumes 31 to 38 (available for purchase in digital or hard copy format)
As always, contributors may submit works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, or one-act plays around the theme “40 years of The Caribbean Writer: A Spectrum of Representation,” exploring the ideas resonating within the region and its diaspora. The Caribbean should be central to the work or reflect a Caribbean heritage, experience, or perspective. Prospective authors should submit all creative works, drama, fiction, and poetry manuscripts in Word format through the online portal ONLY at www.thecaribbeanwriter.org/online-submission. Note that TCW does not accept hardcopy submissions. Submissions for volume 40 are accepted immediately through November 30, 2025. Submit Word files only.
For submission guidelines, go to https://www.thecaribbeanwriter.org/online-submission/