Besides in the Caribbean self-publishing doesn’t carry the stigma that it seems to carry in the US and has always been the only alternative for artists, even for recording artists as talented as Bob Marley, who after being shut out by the big three recording producers in Jamaica, wrote the song, Small Axe, “If you are the big tree/ we are the small axe.” And he wasn’t talking about horticulture.

Self-publishing is so widespread in the Caribbean that the editors of Caribbean Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical-Critical Encyclopedia, admitted: “Since libraries are few and educated readership still tiny…they [books] often disappear unless the author makes his way to the top and his early book sees a second edition … (who would not like to have a copy of the original edition of Derek Walcott’s first poems or of Aime Cesaire’s?). The sad fact is that book publishing in the Caribbean has gotten worse since the publication of Caribbean Writers.

The disappearance of book and manuscripts has been one the main impulses behind the creation of The Caribbean Literary Archive Project , which Georgia Popplewell (Global Voices) has been instrumental in creating. In part, the project intends to be a repository for a group for “discussions about the archiving and preservation of Caribbean literary holdings, past, present and future” because in this ephemeral, digital age the preservation of the works of Caribbean writers is of primary importance.

During the Global Voices breakout session, which will take place on Thursday 8 February at 5 pm., we hope to discuss this and many other projects that Global Voices has initiated in the attempt to “to amplify, curate and aggregate the global conversation online – with a focus on countries and communities outside the U.S. and Western Europe.”

We hope we’ll see you there.