2025 Moderators

Dr. Amina Blackwood Meeks is a multi-talented Jamaican educator and artist. She is a lecturer on Caribbean culture and identity at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Dr. Meeks is also a renowned storyteller,founding the Ntukuma Storytelling Foundation and the Ananse SoundSplash storytelling festival. She even successfully petitioned to make November 20th National Storytelling Day in Jamaica!

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Dr. Meeks' stories draw from her diverse background, including her work as a teacher, political scientist, and farmer. Her tales touch on social issues like gender, environment, and child development. She has performed and conducted workshops around the world, and her work has been published in articles, books, and even CDs.

Kellie is a writer and development specialist, living in Kingston, Jamaica. Her passions are creativity and philanthropy.

Kellie is currently the Executive Director of the Caribbean Culture Fund, a new initiative to support creatives and cultural organizations across the Caribbean and its diasporas. She has more than two decades of experience in philanthropy, raising funds for Harvard University, the University of the West Indies and several non-governmental and international development partners and running projects for international development partners including the World Bank, the European Union, the Commonwealth Foundation, the InterAmerican Foundation, UNICEF and UNESCO. 

Outside of work, Kellie writes on creativity, creatives and the creative economy. Her writing has appeared in local and regional publications, and she has authored more than 15 children’s books, several of which are included in the Jamaican school system under the Literacy 123 programme spearheaded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

Favourite Genre: romance

Favourite Book: Bolu Babalola's Love in Color

Favourite Place to Read: in bed

Creative, driven, and disciplined are three words that embody Jameika Johnson. From a tender age, she has always been described as being academically gifted, and relentless in her pursuit of excellence. This led the Montego Bay High School old girl to develop hopes of becoming a lawyer.

She however quickly abandoned that dream for reality when she began her studies at the University of the West Indies, graduating in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in Literatures in English and Linguistics, and she is now in pursuit of her Master’s degree in International Public & Development Management. She describes her sojourn through university as an enriching one which fostered growth as she became involved as a student leader, which saw her spearheading various initiatives to aid in student development, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. This would have transcended into her role as a Resident Advisor at the George Alleyne Hall, where she served for a year, taking keen interest in the transition and training of first year students. Johnson currently serves as Director of Academic Services at GetAced Academic Services Ltd., where she works with a group of tutors to ensure that students are able to achieve their academic best.

It was her passion for learning and her recognition of a need “bring back reading” that propelled the creation of her organization, Chapters. This she describes as a new-age book club, providing a platform for local authors and curating a space that celebrates literacy. Chapters also doubles as a charitable organization that aids adults in realizing literacy. She credits all her accomplishments to her faith in God and strives to be a role model to her siblings and all whom she encounters. Jameika lives by the quote coined by one of her favorite writers, Maya Angelou, “Do the best you can until you know better, then, when you know better, do better”. 

Jamila Litchmore is an editorial leader with 19 years of experience in journalism, digital media, and content strategy. She began her career at 16 with The Gleaner’s Youthlink Magazine and has since helped to shape how lifestyle and entertainment stories are told in Jamaica. As The Gleaner’s first social media hire and now lifestyle and entertainment editor, Jamila has led newsroom innovation, managed cross-platform editorial teams, and developed content that connects deeply with diverse audiences.

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She is credited with expanding The Gleaner’s Lifestyle section and creating The Sunday Gleaner Lifestyle, a weekly feature with deep roots in local and international fashion. Jamila holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literatures in English from The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, and continues to champion modern Caribbean storytelling at the intersection of media, culture, and strategy.

Dr. Jhodi-Ann Bowie Dean is a psychologist and lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona. She received her PhD in Counseling Psychology from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA and her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Clemson University in South Carolina. Dr. Bowie Dean also works in private practice and is trained in the treatment and assessment of psychological conditions through the use of psychotherapy and other rigorous assessment techniques. For over 14 years, she has worked with clients struggling with a wide range of difficulties, including depression, anxiety, adjustment challenges, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. She believes that the therapeutic process is successful only when adequate work is done between both the therapist and the client, focusing on the innate strengths and resources of the client.

Favorite Genre: Romance

Favorite Book: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Favorite Place to read: Coffee Shops

Reggie Bailey is the Co-Founder, Executive Producer & Co-host of Books Are Pop Culture. The creator of 10 Books 10 Decades—The Biggest Book Challenge. He is a literary citizen who believes that books should occupy the same space in our cultural lexicon as film, television, music, video games & fashion.

Roland Watson-Grant’s first novel Sketcher began life as winning short story for the Lightship International Literary Prize in the UK in 2011. 

Sketcher was published by Alma Books (UK) in 2013 to favourable reviews from The Times London, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Spectator, GQ Magazine and others. Sketcher was shortlisted for an Amazon Rising Star Award and has since been translated into Turkish and Spanish. El Niño Que Dibujaba Un Mundo Nuevo and Eskizci, the Spanish and Turkish translations, were published by Alevosia (Madrid) and GeoTurka (Istanbul) in 2015. SKID, the sequel, followed Sketcher in 2014 also published by Alma Books. Both novels are published by Bloomsbury in New York and Australia. 

The recipient of a Musgrave Award for Literature from the Institute of Jamaica, Roland’s non-fiction essay “I Know I Owe the Obeahman” has been archived by the Smithsonian Libraries in Washington D.C. The follow up “Lessons from an Obeahman’s Son” was published online by AFAR Travel Magazine (San Francisco) in 2021 to favourable reviews.

In 2021, Roland won The Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Caribbean region with his story, “The Disappearance of Mumma Dell”. The story was also shortlisted for the ALCS Tom-Gallon Award 2022 in the UK.  Roland was also longlisted for the 2021 Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Prize and the London Library Prize that same year. His short stories appear in Granta, Preelit Caribbean Magazine (Jamaica) and Doek Literary Magazine (Namibia)

A career Creative Director/copywriter for advertising agencies including McCann-Erickson, Roland has written and produced well-known campaigns

for brands like Red Stripe, Burger King, Scotiabank and others. 

On a mission to inspire writers worldwide, Roland continues to judge international writing competitions and has conducted writing workshops at home in Jamaica, the US, the Caribbean and Africa. 

Nakeeta Nembhard is a strategic planning and marketing professional who currently works at one of Jamaica's major financial conglomerates. An ardent bibliophile, she primarily explores her creative side through content creation via her platform- Browning With a Book on Instagram- as well as through her role as Creator-in-Chief of handcrafted greeting card brand, Roseberry Paper Company. She credits the love of reading in enabling her to unlock the imagination for her various creative pursuits. 

Nakeeta is also a Distinguished Toastmaster with several notable achievements, including Toastmaster of the Year for Jamaica as well as National Speech Champion.

Outside of her professional and creative pursuits endeavours, she enjoys indulging in Golden Girls marathons while enjoying a specialty tea.

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Favourite Genre: Romance & Short Story Collections

Favourite Book(s): Reel by Kennedy Ryan, Things I Have Withheld by Kei Miller, The Duppy by Anthony Winkler (to name a few)

Favourite Place to Read: My couch with a searingly hot cup of tea in hand

Tanya Batson-Savage is a writer, filmmaker, publisher, and creative consultant, with a love of mangoes and a passion for Caribbean stories and ideas. She is publisher and editor in chief of the award-winning independent publishing house, Blue Banyan Books – the fastest growing tradebook publisher in the English-speaking Caribbean and co-founder of the film production company - Have a Bawl Productions Ltd. She Chairs of the Lignum Vitae Writing Awards and is president of the Jamaican Writers Society.

Her non-fiction has been widely anthologized and she authored Pumpkin Belly and Other Stories a collection of stories for children. Tanya produced the animated short film Agwe (2018) and A Shade of Indigo (2023) – both JAFTA Propella films.  Her play Woman Tongue received 8 Actor Boy Award Nominations (2016) and her short film script ‘Endeavour’ earned Best Script (Kingstoon Anime Festival, 2013). She is the 2022 winner of the Best Pitch Forward competition. 

Tanya is a Fellow of the Calabash International Literary Festival and Cropper Residential writing workshops as well as an inaugural participant of the Film Lab. She earned a JAFTA/Porter Screenwriting Fellowship (2020) and Rotterdam Producer Lab Fellowship (2024).