sx salon, a small axe literary platform, has made live its issue #49. sx salon 49, “Praisesongs for Lorna Goodison,” celebrates the work of the Jamaican poet, fiction-writer, essayist, and memoirist in a special discussion section guest-edited by Kelly Baker Josephs. The section includes essays by Elizabeth Coggeshall, Essah Cozett Díaz, and Fabian M. Thomas; poems by Amílcar Peter Sanatan and John Robert Lee; and an interview with Goodison conducted by Kellie Magnus.
Note from the editor, Rachel L. Mordecai: “Praisesongs for Lorna Goodison,” sx salon 49 celebrates the work of Jamaican poet, fiction-writer, essayist, and memoirist Lorna Goodison in a special discussion section guest-edited by Kelly Baker Josephs. Goodison’s extensive and diverse oeuvre has elevated her to the foremost ranks of Caribbean writers, and her work has been widely and rightfully acclaimed. I will leave it to Josephs’s excellent introduction to limn the dimensions of Goodison’s influence and describe the pieces gathered here to laud it, but I take this opportunity to express my delight at being able to present this tribute to a remarkable writer and mainstay of Caribbean literature.
In addition, in this issue Shannon Chen See reviews Yashika Graham’s debut poetry collection, Some of Us Can Go Back Home.And we present new Caribbean poetry and prose by Pamela Mordecai, Simone Leid, Kirese Narinesingh, and Kenan Wilson Phillip.
I close with two notes in memoriam. Anthony Macfarlane was a retired medical doctor, amateur historian, and eminent collector of rare books; in “Artifacts of a Friendship” (sx salon 42) we featured excerpts from his conversation with Ronald Cummings about his long friendship with Cliff Lashley. Dr. Macfarlane passed away on 11 May 2025. Hazel Simmons-McDonald, who passed away on 8 June 2025, was Professor Emerita at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus and recipient of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and the St. Lucia Cross (SLC) for her distinguished work in the field of applied linguistics; she was also a poet and fiction writer whose work was widely anthologized. Our condolences go out to the families and friends of Dr. Macfarlane and Professor Simmons-McDonald.
Enjoy, stay well, and let us know what you think: rlm@smallaxe.net.
For more information, visit https://smallaxe.net/sxsalon/issues/sx-salon-49
[Photo above (Lorna Goodison) from https://www.cbc.ca/books/32-canadian-books-to-read-in-spring-2023-1.6802496]
sx salon, a small axe literary platform, has made live its issue #49. sx salon 49, “Praisesongs for Lorna Goodison,” celebrates the work of the Jamaican poet, fiction-writer, essayist, and memoirist in a special discussion section guest-edited by Kelly Baker Josephs. The section includes essays by Elizabeth Coggeshall, Essah Cozett Díaz, and Fabian M. Thomas; poems by Amílcar Peter
