Episode 13 | BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest 2020 (Part 1) | Vizay - Hadassah K. Williams (Trinidad & Tobago)

BCLF Cocoa Pod

Hadassah K. Williams is the recipient of the 1st BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean.
Her winning submission ‘Vizay’, tugs at the center of the complex, emotional ordeal that is the US visitor’s visa application process in the Caribbean. Comedic in its delivery, Hadassah fashions for readers a story from a commonplace, highly recognisable experience especially to Caribbean residents. Her protagonist however, is an inversion of the typecast visa applicant. Instead of a down-on-his-luck-hapless fella looking towards America as a way out, her protagonist is a proud, gainfully-employed invited guest to a wedding. The story implicitly examines bias, power relations and attitudes between the United States and the small island worlds from which they do business, because to be certain, non-refundable application fees is big business.
'Vizay' is a plucky, irony-filled, tongue-in-cheek rejection of the idea that every Caribbean person is dying to visit America. This story's event is action is neatly packed within a single visit to the American embassy and ends on a surprising high note.
In an era that is rapidly embracing indigenous voices, identities and diversity as global currency, Hadassah is a prime example of what happens when all people, especially women (moreso Caribbean women) are given to opportunity to tell their stories.
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Follow Hadassah's musings and career on Twitter @hkwriter