Essays
How Read Caribbean Month Impacts Readers Globally
Cindy Allman, founder of Book of Cinz, shares her initiative to celebrate Caribbean literature through Read Caribbean Month, highlighting the region’s rich, diverse voices and their growing global impact.
Cindy Allman is a Jamaican living in Trinidad and Tobago and a multifaceted literary enthusiast. She is known for her roles as a book blogger, reviewer, book club host, and content creator. Cindy is also the founder of #ReadCaribbean Month, an initiative dedicated to promoting Caribbean authors. Eight years ago, she launched Book of Cinz, with the mission to inspire people to read more and embrace Caribbean literature. Her passion for Caribbean history, culture, and its people is evident in her work. You can find her on TikTok and Instagram.
Read Caribbean Month is a celebration of Caribbean authors, literature, and culture. Launched seven years ago, its goal has been to raise awareness of how vast, rich, and culturally diverse Caribbean literature can be. Over the years, we’ve seen Caribbean authors reshape the narrative, proving that a small region can have a global impact. Marlon James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings won the Man Booker Prize, and more recently, debut Jamaican author Jonathan Escoffery was nominated for the same award. Caribbean stories are being told more widely than ever, published by the Big Four and translated into numerous languages.
A major turning point came with the launch of Read Caribbean Month, held each June. Caribbean book influencers and readers across the diaspora champion the occasion, helping amplify its reach.
Book clubs in cities like Kingston, Nairobi, Lagos, Accra, New York, and London are reading and engaging with Caribbean literature. International book festivals have also begun featuring Caribbean authors as headliners. It’s been an impactful seven years, and the momentum continues to build.
If you are looking to read more Caribbean voices, here are some titles to start with:
These are just a few books to kick off your Read Caribbean journey. Follow Book of Cinz and Read Caribbean this June, as they spotlight Caribbean voices.
