Marsha Massiah, the Trinidadian-born founder and executive director of the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF), says BCLF will host “Root & Remedy: Prescriptions for an Uncertain World” during its Sept. 5-7, 2025 festival.

Massiah told Caribbean Life on Tuesday, July 29, that the opening event, in partnership with MoCADA, will take place on Friday, Sept. 5, at MoCADA, 10 Lafayette Ave., Downtown Brooklyn.

She also said the festival’s remaining program takes place on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6 and 7, in partnership with The Center for Fiction at their bookstore at 15 Lafayette Ave., downtown Brooklyn.

Massiah said she “proudly welcomes” the return of Hawthornden Foundation, NYU, and TSZ Limited (Trinidad & Tobago), and the arrival of Brooklyn Arts Council, Story Shyft (Barbados), and Island Pops as sponsors of its seventh installation.

She said Root & Remedy: Prescriptions for an Uncertain World “converts the festival into a Caribbean Literary Botánica devoted to stories, rituals, and remedies that meet our present moment of upheaval with imagination and resolve.

“Aptly based in Little Caribbean, Brooklyn is known as the gateway to the Diaspora and home to the largest concentration of Caribbean people outside the region,” Massiah added, stating that the festival is “a living, breathing affirmation of the Caribbean’s enduring spirit, relevance and creative power.

“From Flatbush to Crown Heights, Brooklyn is not just where we gather; it is a Diasporic crossroads, where ‘gone foreign’ becomes home and where the Caribbean story unfolds daily in food stalls, corner stores, and stoops filled with song,” she continued.

As a festival, Massiah said BCLF   programming is “intentionally fluid and unorthodox, mirroring the organic way Caribbean culture weaves through life itself.”

 In BCLF events, Massiah said, “literature meets music, visual art, food culture and oral tradition, challenging conventional boundaries and inviting audiences to feel Caribbean narratives, not merely hear them.

“This approach democratizes the story for new generations born in the Diaspora who crave connection, context, and authenticity,” she added.

Massiah said that while the seventh annual BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest officially closed on July 1, 2025, its six guest judges, including UK-based editor Jacob Ross and US-domiciled Patricia Powell and Kei Miller, are adjudicating the entries for its two prizes, issued in the name of the late, Trinidadian-born, acclaimed author Dr. Elizabeth Nunez.

Massiah said winners will be announced during festival week, receiving cash awards, publication, and opportunities for global exposure.

She said the 2025 festival is made possible by the “generous backing” of Hawthornden Foundation, NYU, Brooklyn Arts Council, TSZ Limited, Story Shyft, Island Pops, and Poets & Writers.

The Center for Fiction, Furious Flower Poetry Center, Greenlight Bookstore, MoCADA, Akashic Books, and the Brooklyn Museum are among BCLF’s programming partners, “deepening community ties and expanding the festival’s creative reach,” Massiah said.

She said events will be hosted at The Center for Fiction, “an institution dedicated to the craft and community of storytelling.”

In typical BCLF fashion, Massiah said the best of the Caribbean literary canon is expected to line the shelves of Literary Botánica.

“Root & Remedy invites readers, writers, and seekers into a space where every panel is a ritual offering and every story a potent medicine,” Massiah said.

“Readers, writers, and bibliophiles are invited to come to Brooklyn not only to listen but to be transformed,” she added.

For more information, visit www.bklyncbeanlitfest.org.