Meet Raheim Fender, the Award-Winning Educator and Creative Making His Mark in Trelawny
When Raheim Sonielle Fender stepped forward to receive the 2026 Governor-General’s Achievement Award for Excellence for Trelawny, the honour recognised nearly two decades of work in education, literacy, the performing arts, youth development and culture. But the award tells only part of his story. Fender is an award-winning educator, seven-time bestselling author, theatre practitioner, poet, […]
Jamaican Model Ackeem Lyn Eyes the Big Screen After Mister Universe Runner-Up Finish
At just 23, rising star Jamaican actor and model Ackeem Lyn is steadily putting his name and face in new spaces. Fresh off a first runner-up finish at the Mister and Mister Teen Universe International competition, Lyn could easily be enjoying his moment in the pageant spotlight. Instead, his attention is already shifting towards what […]
Team Jamaica Wins 42 Medals at 2026 World Championships of Performing Arts
Jamaica delivered a strong showing on the international performing arts stage, securing 42 medals and awards at the 2026 World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA), with six Jamaican acts advancing to the Finale and Montego Bay pianist Nathan Smith emerging as a world champion. Team Jamaica finished the championships with 18 gold medals, 16 silver […]
CODA’s New Spotlight Series Creates Space for Caribbean Filmmakers to Shine
Filmmaking in the Caribbean is nothing new. The region has long produced talented filmmakers and compelling stories, but building a thriving and sustainable film industry has remained a challenge. Among the biggest obstacles is access — access to distribution, promotion and the wider markets needed to get Caribbean films in front of larger audiences. CODA […]
Dancers and Selectors Take Centre Stage at A Taste of Reggae Sumfest 2026
Weeks after A Taste of Reggae Sumfest brought Vybz Kartel and Mavado together for one of the year’s most talked-about dancehall moments, much of the conversation has understandably centred on the historic Gaza-Gully reunion. Given the longstanding rivalry between the two artistes and the movements they came to represent within dancehall, the attention was hardly […]
CARICOM Moves to Address Discrimination Against Rastafarians
Rastafari is one of the Caribbean’s most influential religious and cultural movements. Born in Jamaica and carried across the world partly through reggae music, its ideas of African identity, liberation and resistance have become recognised globally. Yet the people who live the faith have faced generations of discrimination because of their appearance, beliefs and religious […]
Air Jamaica Chronicles : Why the beloved Airline Still Lives Deep in the Hearts of Jamaicans
There are few Jamaican brands that evoke the kind of emotion, nostalgia and national pride that Air Jamaica still does decades after its closure. Mention the airline anywhere Jamaicans gather — Kingston, Toronto, London, New York, Fort Lauderdale — and the stories immediately begin to flow. People remember the warm accents at check-in, the ackee […]
Miami’s Best of the Best Music Fest Unveils 2026 Plans at Celebrity-Filled Press Launch
Widely regarded as one of North America’s premier Caribbean music and cultural festivals, Best of the Best Music Fest will return for its 19th annual staging over the Memorial Day Weekend in Downtown Miami on Sunday, May 24th. The 2026 staging is being presented by Grabba Leaf under the leadership of Michael (Mike) Robinson as […]
The Story Of Shashemene — Ethiopia’s “Little Jamaica”
For decades, a small town in southern Ethiopia has quietly become one of the most unique Jamaican communities outside the Caribbean. Known to many as “Little Jamaica,” the Rastafari settlement in Shashemene represents a remarkable story of repatriation, identity, faith, and cultural exchange between Jamaica and Africa. Located about 250 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, […]
Sylvia Wynter: The Jamaican Scholar Who Challenged the Meaning of Being Human
Few Caribbean intellectuals have reshaped global conversations on race, colonialism, and identity quite like the Honourable Sylvia Wynter, OJ. Writer, playwright, philosopher, and cultural theorist, Wynter’s work challenged long-standing Western ideas about who gets recognised as fully human and who does not. Over a career spanning literature, theatre, history, and critical theory, she became one […]