Lisa Allen-Agostini (born 1970s) is a Trinidadian journalist, editor and writer of fiction, poetry and drama. She is also a stand-up comedian, performing as "Just Lisa". Allen-Agostini has been a columnist for the '' Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'', writing both in

Trinidadian Creole Trinidadian Creole is an creole language commonly spoken throughout the island of Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. It is distinct from Tobagonian Creole – particularly at the basilectal level – and from other Lesser Antillean creoles. En ...

and in

Standard English In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone codification to the point of being socially perceived as the standard language, associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and off ...

, and among other publications where her journalism appears are the '' Trinidad Express'', '' Caribbean Beat'', '' Caribbean Review of Books'', and '' Trinidad and Tobago Newsday''. She is the author of novels both for young people and adults, and her fiction and poetry have been published widely, including in '' Lightspeed'', '' Wasafiri'', '' sx salon'', ''Susumba'', ''Moko'', ''past simple'', and ''About Place Journal''. She is a contributor to the anthologies ''Mothership: Tales of Afrofuturism and Beyond'' (edited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall, 2013) and '' New Daughters of Africa'' (edited by Margaret Busby, 2019). Allen-Agostini's debut adult novel, ''The Bread the Devil Knead'', was selected in April 2022 for the shortlist of the

Women's Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...

Biography

Education and early literary career

Born in Trinidad, Allen-Agostini attended Lower Morvant Government School and Bishop Anstey High School, before going on to earn a first-class honours degree in English at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, as well as studying stagecraft, having been an actor with the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. Allen-Agostini's ambition to be a writer began early, and her 1991 win of a national schools poetry competition was the impetus for her to self-publish a book of poems called ''Something to Say'' in 1992. She began her career as a journalist by working at the '' Trinidad Express'', as a feature writer and editor of a weekly youth magazine called ''Vox'', from where she moved to the '' Trinidad Guardian'' in 1998. In 2001 an Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship enabled her to spend five months at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', before returning to work in various capacities at the ''Trinidad Guardian'' until 2010. She has also written for the '' Caribbean Review of Books''. Her Young Adult science-fiction book, ''The Chalice Project'', was published in 2008, and in the same year she co-edited and contributed to the crime anthology ''Trinidad Noir''. In 2009, she founded The Allen Prize For Young Writers – named in honour of her father – a not-for-profit company dedicated to developing the talent of young writers. She was awarded a scholarship by global advocacy organisation Women Deliver to attend their May 2013 conference in Malaysia. Also in 2013 she was shortlisted for the Hollick Arvon Prize for emerging Caribbean writers and was the 2014 Dame Hilda Bynoe writer-in-residence at St George's University in

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

. She joined the ''Trinidad and Tobago Newsday'' team as a freelance reporter in 2017. That year, her YA novel ''Home Home'' won third-prize in the Burt Prize for Caribbean Young Adult Caribbean Literature and was published in 2018 by Papillote Press. In 2019, she started the Caribbean feminist stand-up comedy partnership FemComTT with Louris Lee-Sing, performing at events as "Just Lisa" and "Lyrix", as well as co-hosting the online chat show ''The Givin' Trouble Show''. Allen-Agostini contributed "The Cook" to 2019's '' New Daughters of Africa'', edited by Margaret Busby for

Myriad Editions Myriad Editions is an independent UK publishing house based in Brighton and Hove, Sussex, specialising in topical atlases, graphic non-fiction and original fiction, whose output also encompasses graphic novels that span a variety of genres, in ...

, and was a participant in an event showcasing the anthology at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest.

''The Bread the Devil Knead'' (2021)

In May 2021, Myriad published her debut adult novel, ''The Bread the Devil Knead'' – described as a "rich, raw and urgent domestic noir novel of sex and survival set in Trinidad’s capital". Reviewer Joanne Owen wrote of it: "Every perfectly-placed word, every perfectly-formed sentence rings with truth and strikes deep. ... Raw and achingly beautiful, this really is remarkable." According to Literandra: "It is a book that will have you feeling breathless and angry, disturbed yet understood. It is honest, raw, and is likely to resonate with a lot of women around the world as it mercilessly exposes what it can mean to be a woman in a world run by men, and what it means to live at the intersection of gender, race, and poverty." The review in '' Scroll.in'' concluded: "''The Bread the Devil Knead'' is a force and Lisa Allen-Agostini has set the standards very high for not just women’s writing, but global literary fiction. Bravo!" Among others who praised the novel are Kei Miller ("You dip into the first page and don't come up for breath until the last... Thoroughly enjoyable") and

Nalo Hopkinson Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels – ''Brown Girl in the Ring (novel), Brown Girl in the Ring'' (1998), ''Midnight Robber'' (2000), ''The Salt Roads'' (2003), ' ...

("Strips you down to raw nerve to build you back up again. Allen-Agostini has an unswerving eye"). In March 2022, ''The Bread the Devil Knead'' was announced as having been included on the longlist for the

, going on to make the shortlist of six.

Awards and recognition

* 2001: Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship * 2013: Women Deliver media scholarship * 2013: Shortlisted for the Hollick Arvon Prize for emerging Caribbean writers * 2014; Dame Hilda Bynoe writer-in-residence at St George's University, Grenada * 2017: Burt Prize for Caribbean Young Adult Caribbean Literature, third prize for ''Home Home'' * 2022: Shortlisted for the

for ''The Bread the Devil Knead''

Selected bibliography

* ''The Chalice Project'' (Young Adult sci-fi), Macmillan Caribbean, 2008. * (As editor and contributor) ''Trinidad Noir'', Akashic Books, 2008. * ''Swallowing The Sky'' (poetry), Cane Arrow Press, 2017. * ''Home Home'' (Young Adult fiction), Papillote Press, 2018; Delacorte, 2020. * ''The Bread the Devil Knead'',

, 2021. .

References

External links