By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
Nunez
ELIZABETH NUNEZ is one of the many Caribbean nationals making their mark in the concrete jungle of New York city. Currently a City University of New York (CUNY) Distinguished Professor of English at Medgar Evers College, Nunez is the author of four published works, Beyond the Limbo Silence, Grace, When Rocks Dance, Discretion and Bruised Hibiscus, (which won an American Book Award). Last year, Nunez received the 'Author of the Year' award from the Go On Girl Book Club.
The Gleaner caught up with her recently when she came to Jamaica. Nunez was one of the tutors at the three-day workshops put on by the 'Calabash International Literary Festival'. The workshops focused on writing poetry and prose. Nunez tutored 'Crafting The Short Story', an introductory course. Other tutors at the workshops were Kwame Dawes, Geoffrey Philip, and Colin Channer.
Nunez first left Trinidad for Wisconsin in the United States in 1963, when she won a scholarship to Marian College. She pointed out that she had intended to promptly return to Trinidad and continue her life there. She did but unfortunately fate had different plans for her. Nunez explains that she became quite disillusioned with Trinidad when she returned home upon graduation and could not find employment. As such, after a stint as a teacher, she left home again.
NEED FOR INDEPENDENCE
Nunez's need to leave her beloved country also came from her need to be an independent woman. "I didn't see any room for the independent woman that I wanted to be," she explained. Although Nunez would later marry and remain so for 20 years, at that time she knew that she was not ready to marry. "I wasn't against marriage and children," she explained. "I just didn't want to be tied down only to that possibility."
She explained that as the years passed and she continued to visit home, she saw more and more women who were able to become professional women. However, by then, she no longer wanted to live in Trinidad. "I began to feel that I didn't need to come back," she said. "I felt I had created a meaningful space for myself."
Although she left the Caribbean to pursue her professional life, Nunez believes, at least writers, no longer have to do so. She argues that due to the internet, Caribbean writers living in the Caribbean now have the same access to the globe as the rest of the world. "The internet has changed everything," she argues, explaining that it now means access to conference papers, publishers and literary agents, etcetera.
Nunez, who participated in the Calabash International Literary Festival last year, noted that the festival also provides would-be writers with great opportunities. She noted that through the festival, Jamaican writers get the chance to come face to face with people in the publishing world. "What we have to do is realise that although these people are coming to the festival, they are also looking for talent," she said.
DIVORCE FROM ROMANTIC NOTIONS
She argues, however, that persons need to divorce themselves from romantic notions about the world of publishing in order to succeed. Remarking that publishing is now controlled by 'suits', she argued that publishing is a business like any other. "It is important for a writer to see the difference between publishing and writing," she said.
"Once you get in bed with publishing, you get in bed with business," she said. So, writers have to recognise that publishing is consumer driven. Pointing out that publishers simply look for trends to determine what will sell, she argued that a best-seller does not dictate quality, or that rejection means a book is bad. "The fact that my book was bought and became a best-seller doesn't mean I'm a great writer," she said.
