In this issue

Inside this issue:
• Events around the Caribbean in May and June, from a new music festival in Cuba to a seafood celebration in Belize
• St Lucia Jazz brings artists and audiences close, and Jamaica’s Calabash Literary Festival inspires real ardour
• Trinidad-based non-profit label Bene Caribe supports local charities through stylish looks
• This month’s reading picks and listening selections
• Every Trini cook has a recipe for corn soup. But Suzanne Bhagan learns that humble soup can cross cultural boundaries
• Artists are always eager to experiment with new tools, so it’s no surprise that digital media offer them a creative playground. Nicole Smythe-Johnson explores
• Omari Banks on becoming the first Anguillan to play cricket for the West Indies, knowing when it was time to make a new career in music, and the power of passion — as told to Nadja Thomas
• Accidental Barbadian filmmaker Shakirah Bourne's “dream” project was the chance to adapt and direct Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a Bajan setting. Naila Folami Imoja tells the tale
• Stretching 600 miles from north to south, Guyana is “the land of many waters” — but also of many landscapes. It celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Brendan de Caires, Vidyaratha Kissoon, and David Papannah take us exploring
• Restless traveller Ishwar Persad is in love with Virgin Gorda — here’s why
• At Tobago’s north-eastern tip, Charlotteville remains a rustic retreat, almost the epicentre of the island’s natural beauty
• On her first visit to Cuba, Sharon Millar finds both the unexpected and a reassuringly familiar Caribbean vibe
• When Barbuda’s coast began to suffer from decades of pollution and over fishing, the Blue Halo Initiative stepped in. Nazma Muller finds out more
• The Guyanese writer Wilson Harris, celebrating his 95th birthday in 2016. James Ferguson explains how his novels bring together reality and dream
• On arid Aruba, hardy cacti are traditionally used to make living fences.

Caribbean Beat Magazine Description:

Published since 1992 by Media & Editorial Projects Ltd (MEP Publishers) as the inflight magazine of BWIA and now the award-winning Caribbean Airlines (and Air Jamaica), Caribbean Beat is the Caribbean’s leading magazine on Caribbean and West Indian arts, culture and society. Beat is a magazine about the real Caribbean — a general-interest, pan-Caribbean publication, produced in the West Indies, by Caribbean people. It gets behind the familiar stereotypes to show how rich Caribbean life really is – its music, art, dance, books, sport, fashion, design, festivals, history, environment, people, lifestyle. This is the region’s most widely-distributed magazine, committed to the highest editorial and production standards.