WHEN you decide to follow your lifelong dream of starting a company and doing something that you believe in, you tend to adopt a kind of a do-or-die approach to it, because it is your dream, and you really want to make it work, and in doing so make a valuable contribution to your community and the wider society. And if you decide that this dream involves publishing and marketing books during harsh economic times that feature high shipping and distribution costs, high printing costs, and a rapidly changing market and publishing industry, the normal fear and trepidation about starting this new venture are even greater. You know that other types of media, like film and video, are more often chosen over reading, and you begin to wonder how much people in general still value books and reading, because of the proliferation of these newer ways to relate and document the human experience. You know this because you yourself have partaken of and enjoyed cutting-edge television dramas, short films, feature films, animated films, reality TV, web TV, and documentary film and video.

You also know that within your environment there is no shortage of new writers of fiction, poetry, inspirational material, history, her-story, etc. More and more people are writing, and more and more of those who are writing have a desire to see it in print—to have it published and shared. We have writers. But where are our readers? I have started to ask myself this question, and I think the answer to it is quite complicated. 

I cannot honestly say I have always chosen a book over a movie or cable TV, but I can say that, upon self-examination, I have come to recognize the true value of a book. There are quite a few discussions in the publishing industry today about whether electronic media or screen time is crowding out book time. Some argue that film and TV are no less thought provoking than reading. Others argue that there is absolutely no substitute for a book. People who seem to know a thing or two about it are divided on the issue.

But let’s think about it for a bit. Do we read less than we used to? And if so, should we be worried about this?  Can we explore life’s issues in the same depth in a film as we can in a book? If the answer is yes, then we would need many, many more films of real depth of feeling and imagination. As a comedian once said: “If you read a lot of books, you are considered well read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you’re not considered well viewed.”

Everyone has his or her own preference, but mine will remain as it has always been. Give me a good book. I think that movies and television put our minds and imaginations to sleep because everything is created for us. And apart from this, there is the absence of instantaneous and in-depth discussion about the characters, situations and settings while the drama is unfolding. While a movie is just played without much time for reflection and deeper exploration of our own feelings, a good book allows its readers their own space and time to interpret the work; we can stop for a little bit to think and maybe recall and compare our own experiences.

This reminds me of the value of a good writer, and of a good book, which is one in which the author raises questions and engages me in conversation, and causes me to take a new look at my own ideas and perceptions. If it inspires me to reassess my view of the world, I like it.

I want to invite you to look at our world through the eyes Caribbean authors who share their thoughts, reflections and visions for and about the Caribbean.  And in the spirit of all the similar efforts to strengthen us as a regional body and as individual societies, through publishing Caribbean literature I aim to invite everyone to listen to and share in each other’s experiences and ideas. I also aim to encourage Caribbean people to celebrate each other. Apart from the pursuit of excellence in all spheres of life, this celebrating of each other’s experiences will cause the rest of the world to take notice of what is happening in this region. We will also be less inclined to view each other as “foreign.”

Read. Reading is listening. 

Carol A. Pitt is the publisher of Caribbean Chapters.  A version of the following address was delivered at the launch of Alvin Cummins’ novel, The Royal Palms Are Dying, their most recent release.