JWIL mourns the passing of the celebrated Caribbean folklorist, Al Ramsawack. Ramsawack published hundreds of folklore and fictional stories in newspaper articles, in ten books, numerous radio broadcasts and television features. Some of his best-known publications are Anansi, the tricky spider (1970), Forest folklore of Trinidad and Tobago (1980) and Folklore Stories of Trinidad and Tobago (2017). Many of his publications build on five decades of folklore research in Trinidad and Grenada. In Trinidad and Tobago, he became a cultural icon as the writer, producer and host of Cross Country, a television show exploring the country’s flora and fauna. For this extensive work, he received numerous awards, including the San Fernando Arts Council Award, the Media Award in 1997 and the President’s Humming Bird Silver Medal in 2004. We were pleased to publish an interview with Ramsawack in our April 2021 issue, likely the last before his death. See “‘There was no book to tell you anything about this’: Al Ramsawack and the Oral Archives of Caribbean Folklore” by Dr. des. Jarula M.I. Wegner and Amanda T. McIntyre in JWIL Vol. 29, No. 1
Jarula MI Wegner (2021) A Tribute to Al Ramsawack (Trinidad Guardian 27 Sept 21)
