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A pan of the Grand Market at CARIFESTA XV, Barbados Grand Market – the mention of it brings fond memories for many. It is the time of the year when festivities are in the air, the breeze is cool ... and, of course, it’s the ‘most wonderful time of the year’. Yes, we’re at the cusp of officially being in that mode ... but that’s a later conversation. There was much excitement, people making a beeline on a narrow makeshift road, surrounded by greenery, in Waterford, St Michael. The literal and figurative off the beaten path came alive as an open field was converted, replete with tents, canopies and tall makeshift structures, to house the Grand Market at CARIFESTA XV , held in Barbados . The market, converging modernity with tradition, the organisers said, was a testimonial of “Caribbean ingenuity and sustainable spirit”. From whiffs of aromas emitting from the food stalls to the beats of the drums and impromptu dances in the space, liveliness was all over the place. The Grand Market brou...

Eria David For Erica David, memories of her four-year-old self growing up in Philadelphia, are still fresh as the aroma of pancakes from her visits to IHOP . So, what’s the correlation between pancakes and Erica? As it’s said, inspiration comes from unexpected places. For her, it was the pancakes ... or was it? “My mother said that I wrote my first poem at age four. It was a bit of blank verse titled ‘On the way to the IHOP’” David said. “It was a spontaneous poem prompted by a love of pancakes that my mother jotted down on a scrap of paper ... . “That’s the myth, anyway,” she hastily added. “I think that what actually made me a writer was two parts boredom, one part jealousy.” Even if pancakes being the source of inspiration was a myth … she articulated as a chef. David said, she used to get bored easily until one day her mother handed her a pencil (for the benefit of Gen Z and beyond folks, that is a writing instrument). She was jealous of her cool older cousin who used to write stor...