About Summer Scholars Lunchtime Talks
The Summer Scholars season of lunchtime talks is hosted by the Eccles Institute for the Americas and Oceania at the Library and showcases the exciting and wide-ranging research into our Americas collections by the Institute’s Visiting Fellows and associates, as well as Library staff.
Free. No need to book, just drop-in.
Golden Harvest: ‘Home’ in the Imagination of the Immigrant
Althea McNish, the acclaimed Trinidad-born designer of fabrics and textiles, like others in the Caribbean Artists Movement, found inspiration in the culture and landscape of her native country. McNish’s color-filled designs and refreshing patterns are both a means of conveying nostalgia and an act of radical homemaking in her adoptive Britain. Zeus Sumra discusses how McNish’s oeuvre inspired the title novella of his current book project, a collection of short stories.
A Reading of the Story 'Groom of the Stool', Set in Trinidad
Nicole-Rachelle Moore reads 'Groom of the Stool', a story inspired by a personal recollection shared by her paternal grandmother Estella Richardson Moore about an incident early in her marriage to Nicole-Rachelle's grandfather, Lionel Moore. The story references some aspects of Trinidad and Tobago's socio-political history.
More information
About the speakers
Zeus Sumra is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hollins University in Roanoke, VA. Born and raised in Saint Lucia, he moved to the United States at the age of 17. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, Lampblack, sx salon, and elsewhere. He is currently at work on a collection of short stories and novellas. He is a 2025 Eccles Institute Visiting Fellow at the British Library.
Nicole-Rachelle Moore is a writer and educator and is the British Library's Curator of post-1850 Caribbean collections. She has co-curated courses on Andrea Levy and Toni Morrison, regularly sits in public conversation with a range of writers and contributes literary reviews for Writers Mosaic. She is Co-editor of 2018's Dream to Change the World: The Story of John La Rose and is an active member of New Beacon Books. Her 2023 debut collection Memories, Musings and Unfinished Conversations was published by Way Wive Wordz.
About the Eccles Institute
The Eccles Institute builds, curates and preserves the Americas and Oceania contemporary collection at the Library and champions knowledge and understanding of these regions through a rich programme of fellowships and awards, cultural events, research training, guides to the collections and initiatives for schools.
For more information about the Institute and our collections, contact eccles-institute@bl.uk or visit our blog.
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