MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We close our offices from midday Monday, December 24, 2007. We reopen on Wednesday January 2, 2008.

See you in 2008!

Yes Minister

Last month Ian Randle and Verene Shepherd presented copies of Freedom Delayed: Britain's Order in Council and Abolition Act and the illustrated biography Marcus Garvey to Jamaica's Education Minister, Hon Andrew Holness. Professor Shepherd is Chair of the Jamaica National Bicentennary Committee and compiled and edited Freedom Delayed which is being distributed by Ian Randle Publishers.

Minister Holness was unable to make the launch of Marcus Garvey in October so Ian Randle seized the opportunity to present the Minister's copy to him on this visit.

Have YOU visited us recently?

If you're in our part of town, drop in for a visit and look at all the great books we have. Perrenial favourites available are Enid Donaldson's The Real Taste of Jamaica and The Story of the Jamaican People by Phillip Sherlock and Hazel Bennett. Newcommers to the bestseller list are Pieces of the Past, Mango Time and of course, the illustrated biography Marcus Garvey. If you don't have the good fortune to be in Jamaica, all our books are available from our website, the truly hassel-free way to do your Christmas Shopping! But hurry, our warehouse closes on Thursday, December 21 so you need to place your orders by midday Tuesday, December 18.

Gaymes in Town

We're always travelling to visit with our customers so it was special treat when Dennis Gaymes of Gaymes Book Centre in St. Vincent and the Grenadines dropped in to see us today. Our Sales Exec. Elaine gave Mr. Gaymes the tour of the IRP offices and gave him a preview of the forthcoming titles for 2008.

Just arrived

The Christmas season is upon us, but the merrymaking doesn't stop our production. We have several recent arrivals to the warehouse. Democracy and Constitution Reform in Trinidad and Tobago by Kirk Meighoo and Peter Jamadar assesses the constitution reform process in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The Caribbean City, edited by Rivke Jaffe examins the urban Caribbean from a wide range of perspectives including anthropological, historical, political, and cultural to provide an introduction to the characteristics of the modern Caribbean City. And new in paperback is The Island of One People: An account of the History of the Jews of Jamaica by Marilyn Delevante and Anthony Alberga. First published in hardback early in 2006, this book quickly established itself as the most comprehensive account of this small but influential community.

Seasons Greetings!

Best wishes for a peaceful Christmas season to all our Authors, Colleagues and Customers from Team IRP.

Kindly note, our warehouse will close on Friday, December 21 and our offices will close at midday on Monday, December 24. Both warehouse and office reopen on Wednesday, January 2, 2008.

New Appoinment at the UWI for IRP Author

Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Author of Silk Cotton and Other Trees and co-author of Writing in English: A Coursebook for Caribbean Students, has been appointed Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies for Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education from the academic year 2007/2008.

Hazel is a Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Language. Lingusitics and Literature in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados.

28 New Books in 2007

What a year its been! We're at the end of week 47 and we've produced a total of 28 NEW books this year - that's a new book every 12 days!
Some of this year's highlights include books published to coincide with the commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Trade in Africans. These include Trading Souls: Europe's Transatlantic Trade in Africans to the Caribbean and Saving Souls: The African and British Struggles to End the Transatlantic Trade in African Peoples; African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Beyond the Silence and the Shame and our feature book, Marcus Garvey. We also had our usual fair share of books in the areas of Society & Government; Cultural & Diaspora Studies; Politics & International Relations; Urban Studies and Integration Studies. Look for the new books in all of these areas at www.ianrandlepublishers.com.

IRP Author is new Finance Minister of Trinidad and Tobago

Congratulations to Karen Nunez-Tesheira on her recent appointment as Minister of Finance in Trinidad and Tobago. Karen is an attorney-at-law and former Senior Lecturer at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. She is the author of Non-Contentious Probate Practice in the English Speaking Caribbean and The Legal Profession in the English Speaking Caribbean, both of which are used by practitioners and students of the Norman Manley Law School (Jamaica), the Hugh Wooding Law School (Trinidad) and the Eugene Dupuch Law School (the Bahamas).

Above: Karen Nunez-Tesheira

Revisiting Caribbean Labour

Revisiting Caribbean Labour: Essays in Honour of O. Nigel Bolland

The seven contributions in this collection originate from a colloquium organized by the Caribbean Studies Association in 2003 in Belize in honour of O. Nigel Bolland, who wrote an afterword for the volume. The contributions are inspired by Bolland's The Politics of Labour in the British Caribbean. In addition to British territories, Puerto Rico and Cuba are reviwed here. In his brief afterword, Bolland calls attention to the special position of the Caribbean that places labour at the vanguard of global trends. He argues that neoliberalism has brought about a chronic and structural crisis in the region.

Adapted from the International Review of Social History

Vol. 52 (2007), PART 1

O. Nigel Bolland

From the Journal of the Royal Anthrolpological Institute

Jamaican Hands Across the Atlantic
Elaine Bauer and Paul Thompson

This book brings up some of the key issues regarding Caribbean migrants and dispels or at least modifies a number of problematic assumptions that seem to have accrued over time. The focus is on transnational families and the evidence that these should not be regarded simply as separated families, but rather as a new kind of family that manages to retain many of the forms and functions of co-residential family life....Quite apart from the many different facets of migration that receive illumniation or are effectively updated by this book, the particular quality of the volume as a whole comes from its style and form, which are clearly influenced by Thompson's lifelong association with oral history and Bauer's empathy with her Jamaican origins.

Adapted from the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 13, 743-783

© Royal Anthropological Institute 2007

Congratulations

Congratulations to IRP Author Rebecca Tortello on her appoinment as Special Adviser/Consultant to the Minister of Education in the areas of Early Childhood and Parenting. Rebecca is the author of bestselling Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica's Memory Lane (2007).

2 New Family Members

IRP welcomes Lisa-Marie Clunis and Kaci Hamilton to the IRP family. Lisa, already in the swing of things joined the Marketing department in July. Contact her at marketing@ianrandlepublishers.com for review and desk copy requests and information on forthcoming books. Kaci is our Assistant Editor and already has her hands full with exciting new projects for 2008. Kaci can be contacted at editorial2@ianrandlepublishers.com.

Above: Lisa

At Right: Kaci

One for the Record Books

In less than 6 months since its release, Rosemarie Stone's No Stone Unturned has sold over 4,000 copies. A first for Ian Randle Publishers, the unprecedented sale of this book is perhaps a first for any book published in the Caribbean. Although most of the sales have been through traditional bookshops and online through http://www.ianrandlepublishers.com/, the last 1,000 copies were bought by the Jamaican National Health Fund (NHF) for donation to the Jamaica Library Service. At the presentation ceremony to hand over the books on Tuesday October 30, 2007, Health Minister Ruddy Spencer praised Rosie for her courage in sharing her story. In 1993, Rosemarie Stone had to deal with the death of her husband well-known Political Scientist Carl Stone and the discovery of her own HIV-positive status. No Stone Unturned is Rosie's story of her fight against the debilitating effects of the virus and against the stigma and discrimination that follows anyone living with the virus. It is a story of love and loss; of courage and resilience and a truly inspirational memoir.

Rosie Stone signs copies of her book

No Stone Unturned at the launch in May 2007.

Letters to the Editor

Taken from the Daily Gleaner Newspaper

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Bold step for our benefit

The EDITOR, Sir:

The recent publication of the Illustrated Biography of Marcus Garvey is yet another great milestone in Jamaica's history.

This is the country's greatest National hero and his achievements, both local and international, are convincing proof.

Prime Minister Golding is right on target in proposing the introduction of this book into the school curriculum because every Jamaican should be knowledgeable about all its National Heroes, and the school is the best way to start.

I hope this book will be readily available in all public places like hospitals, for all to be educated about our great history and one of the great persons who courageously sacrificed for it.

This book would make a great gift.

I am, etc.,

WINSTON FRASER

winpatt@verizon.net

Rosedale, Queens, N.Y.

Via Go-Jamaica

Marcus Garvey at King's House

On Thursday, October 25, 2007, King's House was the site of the launch of the illustrated biography Marcus Garvey in its 3 separate English, French and Spanish language editions. After a welcome by the Governor General His Excellency the Most. Hon. Prof. Kenneth Hall, guests were treated to 2 very powerful messages from Enid Courtney, Lady President of the UNIA Jamaica Chapter and from Shirley Campbell Barr the Costa Rican translator of the spanish edition, who spoke on behalf of the Garvey communities of Central America. The book was formally launched by The Hon. Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica and the Author, Suzanne Francis-Brown, made presentations to the National Library of Jamaica, the Jamaica Library Service to Liberty Hall.

At left: PM Golding and Suzanne Francis Brown make a presentation to a representative from Liberty Hall

Above: Publisher Ian Randle makes a presentation of all 3 editions to Prime Minister Golding

3 events in 3 places

IRP was in Bridgetown, Barbados; London, England and Frankfurt, Germany last week as Elaine, Ian and Christine (respectively) each ventured to these varying parts of the world to showcase our books. Hundreds of participants converged at Bridgetown for the ASWAD (Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora) conference. The word was, WORDPOWER was a hit as the first
only International Black Literature Festival & Book Fair in the world, held at the Emirates Arsenal Stadium Conference Hall in London. The Frankfurt Bookfair was, as it always is, HUGE, as hundreds of publishers from across the world gathered to do business in Germany - AND we were there! From the Caribbean to the World.

From the Harvard International Review

THOMSON FONTAINE reviews

The Practice of Economic Management:
A Caribbean Perspective

In this compelling selection of 22 essays, Dr. Courtney Blackman, the founding governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, lays out a clear and concise description of economic issues affecting the Caribbean within a broader political context. The essays are sharply critical and insightful in their analyses of economic policies set within the context of small developing Caribbean economies and their unique colonial histories and cultures. The lessons drawn, however, are not limited to the Caribbean region; all have larger global significance of their own.

Taken from

Harvard International Review

Vol. 28 No. 4 (Winter 2007) issue

Eight Books for CARICOM

Earlier this month Ian Randle met with Dr. Edward Green at the CARICOM Secretariat offices in Guyana and presented 8 new publications dealing with regional integration matters, all of which have been released this year. Dr. Green congratulated IRP for its sterling efforts in sustaining the high quality of material and for assisting in advancing the understanding of readers on the vital issues of regional integration.

The 8 new publications are:

• Understanding International Trade: A CARICOM Perspective
• Observing Elections: The Commonwealth's Way - The Early Years
• The Race for Fisheries and Hydrocarbons in the Caribbean Basin: The Barbados/Trinidad and Tobago Dispute, Regional Delimitations Implications
• The Caribbean Integration Process: A People Centred Approach
• Intervention, Border and Maritime Issues in CARICOM
• CARICOM Single Market and Economy: Challenges, Benefits, Prospects
• Confronting Challenges, Maximizing Opportunities: The Diplomacy for Market Access
• CARICOM Single Market and Economy: Gensis and Prognosis

Making Books and Babies

We're producing children as fast as we're producing books! Since January, 5 children have been born to IRP staff members - from a staff complement of 12. In January we welcomed Oliver, son of Christine Randle our Managing Director. In April, Naima and Anisa, daughters of Latoya West our Customer Service Agent, were born; and in July, Shelly-Gail Folkes our Production Controller, produced Jonathan and Alexander. Congratulations to all 3 new mothers!