About

Hi there! I’m Annie Paul. I used to write a column called Style and Passion in the Sunday Herald (Jamaica). Had to give it up when they changed the word ‘Bollywood’ to Hollywood in my last piece. Now I’m looking forward to life without editors in this blog which i hope you’ll tell others about…

The para above was the statement my original blogger bio carried from the time i started blogging in January 2008. Perhaps its time to add a little to it. Two and a half years later i’m happy to report that the move from print to blog has proved invaluable. Apart from the many new readers and online friends i now have, and the many opportunities that have come my way, both Active Voice and my twitter feed @anniepaul have been quoted in various international media, something every journalist/writer dreams of. See a few links below…

In June 2010 Active Voice was quoted in The New York Times’ Lede blog, a Village Voice blog and in an Associated Press article on the Dudus imbroglio.

Channel 4 News in London asked me to contribute twice: here and in their story Jamaica death toll rises as unrest continues.

Also in May 2010 my tweets were featured in a Lede article called Following Jamaica’s State of Emergency Online.

There, just a little bit of blogflogging, what else…I work at the University of the West Indies, Mona,  where i edit a Social Science journal for a living (Social and Economic Studies). I was born in Kerala, India but have lived in Kingston,  Jamaica for 22 years…

This is one of my favourite comments from a reader in Australia:

Dear Annie,
I do not usually read blogs – being old – but I shall sample your wares in the future. The West Indies seems so far away – except when our cricket team is playing – and there is little coverage in the press, so your insights and backgrounding are fascinating.
Cheers,

Lance

The world wide web is a sticky place and blogs are like mini-webs spun by human arachnids who aim to trap you with silky tripwires. Not to eat those who wander into their webs but to entice them to return, again and again, leaving trails of page views and visits and occasional comments— blogfood—that rich humus that feeds the growth of blogs. Hopefully you’ll step into my parlour on a regular basis…

courtesy @therealnickmack

PS: 13 Feb 2011 Active Voice has finally been discovered by local media (see above) who are belatedly realizing that blogs can be news sources too. Hallelujah!  The story based entirely on quotes from Active Voice is on the front page of the Sunday Observer today. Here’s a post by Endzoftheearth about it.

PPS: In January 2012 Active Voice was given the personal achievement award by Jamaica Blog Awards for excellence in blogging.

And in July-Aug 2012 I was commissioned by Newsweek to write two pieces on Usain Bolt just before and during the Olympics.

July 16, 2012 Newsweek

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt: Is He Still the World’s Fastest Runner?

Aug 13, 2012, Newsweek

Usain Bolt’s sly bravado is a source of Jamaican pride

January 21, 2014: Again quoted in the NYT Lede by Robert Mackey in story about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford:

Video Shows Toronto’s Mayor Using Jamaican Patois in Obscene Rant About Police Surveillance

31 thoughts on “About”

  1. hey annie, the new site looks great! glad to see you blogging on.

    so what about wyclef for president?! “People can say, ‘Clef what do you know about politics and running the country, it sounds pretty insane Clef.’ i am inclined to think this is the time for artists to have a turn. those who supposedly should know about politics and running countries have proven over and over again that they know as muc about those things as the next guy. looking forward to reading about this on active voice.

    anil

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  3. Hey Sonjah! yes, blogging is the only way to go for a writer…congrats on starting yours…thanks also for leaving a comment, wish more people would take the trouble to do that.

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  4. Hi Annie,
    I got lead here by a referred post on our blog, and read your excellent piece on WikiLeaks.
    “I’ll be back” – as some Austrian/American chap once said.

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  5. Hello Annie

    I’m French and I’m at the moment translating (or try my best to do so) this beautiful novel By earl Lovelace ‘is just a movie’. Practically none of caribbean novels or poems are translated in our country and since i’ve got time, (and since i discovered the beauty of Derek Walcott a couple of years ago), I thought it could be a good idea to work on it in order to , why not, publish it one day and give more visibility to this beautiful writing. I let you my mail in case…

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    1. Hi Elodie,

      thanks for leaving a comment. how wonderful that you’re translating Earl into French. I’ll let him know…of course you may have done that already. will send an email too…

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  6. Compliments on superlative trubute to Usain Bolt, hero of 2012 Olympics. He more than matched Jesse owens and Emil Zatopek. Hurrah Jamaica!

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  8. dear madam,
    We malayalees take great pride to the fact that wherever you go in the world, you will find one. As a syrian myself all I could say is God bless u in whatever you are doing. But I would certainly like to know real story of how you ended up in far away rastaland. Would make a great biography if you could write in malayalam

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    2. Two points for Jerrin Thomas:1. great pride IN the fact reads better than TO the fact; 2. why does Annie have to write in malayalam because her biography would make great reading in any languare because somebody around will produce one.Finally, malayalees are not the world’s greatest travellers. To wit, I am a South Indian “pattar” who has covered four Olympic Games, but decided to settle down in Hong Kong to edit an English daily!

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  9. Hi Vernon, am only just reading this comment properly. thanks for the support. interestingly i’ve just finished my first column for a new venture called Azhimugam.com which will be translating a bi-weekly column by me into Malayalam.

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  11. Hey Annie. I chanced upon your blog and what a pleasant trip it has been journeying here. Would like to connect with you more. I am an Indian author with 5 published books doing very well for the Publishers as I am still trying to find my ground…. where I cam cultivate, reap and harvest as well…

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  13. Dear Annie,

    I’m an academic working in the UK and developing writing on Caribbean art.

    Having read your essay, Visualising Art in the Caribbean, in Infinite Island, I’d like to write a paper on Peter Dean Rickard’s photography, specifically, Braidhead 1 and Braidhead 2.

    I wondered if you would be able to suggest other art criticism on Peter’s work and how I could obtain permission to use his images in my paper?

    I’m also interested in Joscelyn Garner’s Creole Portraits, and have also read Nicollete Ramirez’s commentray of her work in Infinite Island. Would you happen to know of scholarship that has focused on her work?

    Thank you in adavance.

    Kind regards,

    Karen Wilkes
    kawilkes@hotmail.co.uk

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    1. Dear Karen, Thanks for contacting me. I’m glad you noticed PD’s photography in that essay. I thought someone like him should have been included in the show itself and since his work wasn’t included, i decided to feature it in my essay. PD pointedly avoided art circuits so actually there isn’t much written about him or his work. i have a couple of pieces in which i talk briefly about particular works which i could send you.
      Gardner’s work there must be a lot of critical writing on. one place to look for material like this is the journal Smalll Axe. i will ask her for you, no one would know better than the artist herself of scholarly responses.

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  14. Pingback: Rejoinder to Annie Paul’s ‘Being A Writer in Jamaica’ – My Jamaican Vignettes

    1. Thanks for your rejoinder Chantal. I’m honoured. btw Olive Senior was not on the Calabash line-up this year…so you count as Jamaican writers only the ones who actually live in Jamaica? so no need for Jamaica to take pride in Marlon James’s Booker? you don’t think Jamaicans living in the diaspora count? is that it?

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  15. Annie,

    Good to read your posts! Coming to Kingston next week, let me know how I can get in touch with you. Soon, Michael Hanchard

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  17. Dear Annie Paul,
    Hope you are doing well. My name is Kamera . I am a student, doing an assignment that is a book report on your book Stuart Hall and I was wondering if I can could get an introduction about you for this book report. Hope you have a great week and your safe along with your family. Furthermore I hope I receive a respond from you soon.
    Regards,
    K.Right

    Reply

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