The essay collection "Bridges of Sound: the Translocality of Caribbean Performance Poetry and Music" will examine some of the more innovative works arising from

1. the artists movements back and forth from the Caribbean region to locations in North America (the US and Canada)
2. the engagement of Caribbean poets and musicians with expressive forms found in the Americas (such as Kamau Brathwaite's interest in African American and Caribbean "Shango train songs")
3. creative collaborations between Caribbean performance poets/ musicians and artists of various North American communities (such as the recordings of reggae and dub poetry by Jamaican and First Nations/ Native American artists)
4. the Caribbeanization of North American cities spaces, musical cultures,poetic productions, and sound structures (in such works as Wyclef Jean's rap/ musical CD Carnival, Nuyorican poet Willie Perdomo's poetry, or dub poet, playwright, and film maker ahdri zhina mandielas "dub theatre" piece dark diaspora in dub). The collection will be issued with a CD, so we have the opportunity of enhancing our articles with audio footnotes.

The University of Wisconsin Press series editors Adalaide Morris, Lynn Keller, and Alan Golding have expressed great interest in the proposal. The Press will provide a conditional contract upon receiving the abstracts from potential contributors. I welcome you to respond to my request for your participation by sending me an e-mail or letter briefly delineating the subject you would like to research and write about. Contributors are needed for some of the suggested topics listed above. Other topics are welcomed. I will need to receive the abstract by March 20th, 2003. The deadline for the articles will be July 1st, 2003. It is my hope that the articles will include, whenever possible, interviews with the artists, critical responses to live performances or recordings, and audio samples of poetry readings or musical events. We especially need an essay on Caribbean Canadian poetry/dub theatre.