Moksha: Poems of light and sound

by Anson Gonzalez

63 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1988

About the author

Anson Gonzalez is internationally recognised as a poet with several collections and with poems in most of the new major anthologies of Caribbean poetry. His career as a poet began in 1967 with the publication of Quinquennial which appeared in Writing: Anniversary 5. Since then his poems have been published in numerous journals, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and anthologies. In the early '70s he began to promote poetry and work toward sustaining the literary culture of the Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago in particular. In 1973 he founded, edited, and published The New Voices, a bi-annual literary journal which has published poems, plays, short stories, and non-fiction by more than 300 Caribbean writers. The New Voices was published continuously for 20 years and is now available upon request via electronic mail. One of the major accomplishments of The New Voices was the Bibliography of Creative Writing in Trinidad and Tobago (1962-present). The bibliography documented books published by Trinidad and Tobago nationals in all aspects of creative writing. Although no longer available in print, the bibliography is still being updated and is available online. In 1974 Anson Gonzalez established a publishing imprint called New Voices which published his own poetry collections and many other books by Caribbean writers. The New Voices Newsletter was founded in 1981 and served the Caribbean writing community for 12 years by providing information about writers, literary competitions, grants, and workshops.

One of the founders and former presidents of the Writers' Union of Trinidad and Tobago, Anson Gonzalez established the celebration of Poetry Day (October 15) in Trinidad and Tobago in 1979. The occasion is now observed annually in eight other Caribbean countries and has given poetry and poets a prominent place in the cultural calendar. In his continuing efforts to promote creative writing, he conducted two radio programmes, Self-discovery through Literature and Trinidad and Tobago Literature: ON AIR, designed to sensitize the public to the tradition of letters in Trinidad and Tobago and to encourage the public to read the works of our authors. He has also conducted creative writing classes throughout the Caribbean organized by the Writers' Union of Trinidad and Tobago, the University of the West Indies, the Organization of American States, and the Trinidad Theatre Workshop founded by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. During his career, Anson Gonzalez has organized numerous literary competitions and poetry readings, obtained and awarded prizes to writers, and provided scholarships to writers' workshops. He has also judged many poetry writing and recitation competitions, even the prestigious Casa de las Americas Caribbean and Latin American literary competition. He has been awarded the Writers' Union Writer of the Year Award (1988), and honoured for his services to the Caribbean literary community by the University of Miami.