Trouble in the Streets
An Encounter with J. A. Roy Bodden,
Cayman’s most prolific Cultural Historian
Wednesday 27 April 2022
6pm London
12pm Cayman
1pm New York
“Trouble in the Streets” – An Encounter with J.A. Roy Bodden, Cayman’s Most Prolific Cultural Historian is a quarter two Arts & Culture Virtual Yard event, part of Poetry Month, and the official launch event for Cayman Connection (CC) Book Club.
On Wednesday 27 April at 12pm EST, 6pm BST, the Cayman Connection Book Club invites members to the Virtual Yard for a sharing of new works written by Mr. J.A. Roy Bodden.
Dr. Stephanie Fullerton-Cooper, Associate Professor at University College of the Cayman Islands will guest host this special event. Readers include Dr. Fullerton-Cooper, Mr. Bodden, and actress Rita Estevanovich.
“One of the brightest facets of what it means to be Caymanian is our love and gift for storytelling. Oral tradition might very well be at the core of our identity, so the launch of Cayman Connection’s Book Club feels timely and appropriate. We are grateful to have Professor Roy Bodden at our first event. President Bodden (as recent UCCI students refer to him) is a legislator, former education minister, sociologist, historian, writer, essayist, and the definitive chronicler on Caymanian society for many decades now. If we had a poet laureate, Makar or Caymanian equivalent, there would be no other contender.”
– Antonio Arch, CC Book Club Lead
“I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation for the organisation of the just concluded Cayman Connection Book Club event featuring Mr. Roy Bodden. It was wonderful to get the chance to hear from Mr. Bodden as well as everyone else participating, and get a taster for some of his works to come.
Thank you Ms. Rita as well for your excellent readings during the event!
I have been following Mr. Bodden’s works for some time and have relied upon them as a component of domestic literature for my dissertation. As outlined in my comment during the event, I am researching the degree to which Cayman’s tourism model can be considered as an instrument of neo-colonialism. The opportunity to briefly hear Mr. Bodden’s thoughts on this topic was greatly reassuring and I am hoping that it may be possible to be provided with a contact for him and/or a formal introduction, in hopes that I may potentially press further questions or at a minimum, be provided with his consent to use his comments in response as part of my piece.”
– Julian Menko
“It was awesome being part of your program yesterday.
It was truly inspirational listening to Dr Bodden. He writes about what he perceives as the destruction of the inherent beauty of Cayman’s identity. This insidious encroachment is pervaded throughout our beautiful earth. As writers and poets we have a duty to highlight these issues and Dr Bodden has risen to that challenge. He is to be admired for his bravery to voice what many of us are afraid to do. Dr Stephanie was the perfect person to introduce and interact with Dr Bodden. They complemented each other as she was able to anticipate Dr Bodden’s needs. The readings by Rita and Dr Stephanie we’re impacting.
Thank you for allowing me to be part of your Book Club. If there is anyway I can contribute do let me know.”
– Laurene Hoyte
J. A Roy Bodden, JP
Educator and Public Intellectual
Member of the Legislative Assembly 1988-1992
Minister of Education 2000 -2005
Author of six books including the popular Cayman Islands in Transition
President Emeritus of UCCI
Poems from “Trouble in the Streets”, Mr. Bodden’s latest volume of poetry, as well as short story excerpts from a new volume of stories entitled, “The Defilement of Misamba and Other Stories”, will be read and discussed in this interactive 90-minute gathering. Both volumes were developed during lockdown and are due to be published in late 2022.
Mr. Bodden is also writing the sequel to the popular “Cayman Islands in Transition”, complete with photographs, maps and charts, and will be available to discuss this and other works that form part of the Cayman Islands’ literary canon.
Dr. Stephanie Fullerton-Cooper is Associate Professor of Language and Literature in the Arts and Humanities department at the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI). She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Mona, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree (with Honours), a Master of Philosophy, and a Doctoral degree in Literatures in English. She also completed a postgraduate diploma in education at UCCI. Prior to academia, Dr. Fullerton-Cooper spent five years working in journalism and nine in public relations.
She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the University College of the Cayman Islands (JUCCI), a member of Lapidus International, a member of the Committee for the Promotion of Research ad Cayman Scholarship, and she also is the co-founder of the Caymen Literary Society. Over the last five years, she has been devoted to editing.
She has edited books by writers in Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and the United States. These have covered such areas as Theology, Biography, and Creative Writing, and she has also written and edited a number of academic articles. Dr Fullerton-Cooper has co-edited The Caribbean in a Changing World: Surveying the Past, Mapping the Future, Volumes 1 and 2, a collection of essays examining the Caribbean 50 years after the demise of the West Indies Federation. She has published and presented papers at academic conferences, focusing specifically on Caribbean and Cayman literature. Her current interest is in conducting research in Cayman Literature with an aim to establish Cayman creative writings as deserving of a place within Caribbean and African Diaspora Literature.
To this end, Dr Fullerton-Cooper in 2021 wrote a bi-weekly column “Celebrating Cayman Writers, Writings, and the Arts” in the Caymanian Times newspaper. She is married and has 14 year-old twins.
Narrator, Rita Estevanovich
Rita Estevanovich is a professional actor-performer and cultural animateur born and raised in the Cayman Islands. She obtained a BA in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Political Science, Business Admin, and Spanish from University of Central Florida, an Acting for Film Certificate from New York Film Academy (Los Angeles), and an MA in Actor Performer Training from Rose Bruford College (London). Rita worked at Cayman National Cultural Foundation for 10 years before moving into tourism, and is Cayman Connection’s General Manager.