History

We're finishing the week the way we started - on a natural high. The World record gold medal run by our Men in the 4 x 100M relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was phenomenal. Our girls didn't finish the race [these things happen] but team mates Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter, Usain Bolt and Michael Frater [pictured above] made Jamaica proud.

Photograph taken from www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean

Credit Getty Images

We've done it again

Amidst the work on book projects here at IRP, we're celebrating our athletes' successes at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games along with the rest of Jamaica. Nine medals so far - 5 of them gold. This morning Veronica Campbell-Brown successfully defended her 200M title and team-mate Kerron Stewart earned the bronze medal for her 3rd place finish. IRP books have always proved that Jamaica and the Caribbean are so much more than Sun, Sand and Sea - our athletes are doing so so as well.

Olympic Fever!!!

We're on a high here in Jamaica where 2 Olympic gold medals in a row from Usain Bolt in the Men's 200M and Melanie Walker in the Women's 400M hurdles have us all hoarse!
Congratulations Team Jamaica. And as we say here at IRP, From the Caribbean to the World.

Photograph of USain Bolt winning

the Men's 200M from msn.com

The Adventures of an Economic Migrant

Excerpt from the Sunday Gleaner August 17, 2008

The Adventures of an Economic Migrant is an intriguing story of how one Caribbean migrant overcame innumerable odds to establish one of the most successful black enterprises in Britain. Migrating from his homeland of Montserrat in the 1950s, a time when racism was widespread and gaining acceptance in an environment hostile to non-white immigrants seemed nearly impossible. Tony Wade proved to all that it was indeed possible and this autobiography serves as a testament to his experiences.

For more information on this title, contact us at marketing@ianrandlepublishers.com

Making History

At IRP we're all about books but this weekend it was all about athletics as we watched Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson make history on the world stage for Jamaica.

Pictures from the Jamaica Observer Newspaper

Look at what's coming

Did you miss us last week? We were busy celebrating Emancipation Day on August 1 and Jamaica's Independence Day on August 6. But now its back to business and we're ploughing ahead with our books for the remainder of 2008.

Coming out soon will be The Caribbean Community in Transition: Functional Cooperation as a Catalyst for Change; Lunchtime Medley: Writings on West Indian Cricket; Sex Power and Taboo: Gender and HIV in the Caribbean and Beyond; and George Padmore: Pan-African Revolutionary.

In time for the Christmas season we'll have Manners and Entertaining with Marguerite Kirkpatrick Gordon: A Guide to Caribbean Life and Style; Roving with Lalah: Stories of Everyday Jamaican Life; The World's Finest: Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee and In Trinidad: Photographs by Pablo Delano.

Marguerite Kirkpatrick-Gordon

Of course, these are just a few of the books that are in the pipeline for the rest of 2008 so keep posted to the blog for all up to date releases or contact us for more information at marketing@ianrandlepublishers.com.

Balancing Creole and Standard English

Reproduced from the Letters to the Editor: The Gleaner Newspaper Monday July 28, 2008

THE EDITOR, Sir:
IN LIGHT of the swirling debate on the relevance of the Bible being translated to Jamaican Creole, I wish to direct your readers to a book reviewed by Paul H. Williams in The Sunday Gleaner, June 22, that should help in putting some rational perspective to the controversy.
The book is From Vernacular to Standard English: Teaching Language and Literacy to Caribbean Students by Dennis R. Craig. It offers interesting reading and I strongly believe it will help in underscoring a point I tried to make in a previous letter to the editor regarding our use of the Jamaican Creole. I pointed out that it was important that we extend our thinking in terms of the potential of the language.
Intangible heritage
I accept that the proposal to utilise this intangible heritage as a salient feature of Jamaica's heritage tourism is something that requires far more formal preparation which should begin in our schools. This is the thinking that is thoroughly discussed in Craig's publication and it is my hope that we will all embrace the educational value of the language and introduce to our classrooms the teaching-learning dynamics of Creole and Standard English.
His publication is a timely intervention in a debate which frankly has taken on short-sighted proportions, including our prime minister's unfortunate thinking that the Patois Bible project reflects a failure of the education system. Craig present readers with a range of necessary themes including the historical context of the development of the vernacular, background of the language, the development and use of language awareness and important, how to incorporate these and other elements in teaching primary- and secondary-level students.
Cowardice to embrace mother tongue
The objections and alarmist cries that we have been hearing has really not been about the Bible being translated to Creole, as it is about our cowardice to embrace the mother tongue which is Office of Utilities Regualtions first language - notwithstanding that English is our official language. Read Craig and you will understand the distinction and the need to accept that our 'language emancipation' lies in how we choose to balance the use of Creole and Standard English in and outside our classrooms.
I am, etc.,
J. LINDSAY
Commhertours@yahoo.com