This collection contains audio-visual materials (mostly VHS) and associated digital files related to the Caribbean Writers Summer Institute, which was hosted by the University of Miami English Department and held for five weeks during the summer in Miami, Florida from 1991 through 1996. Each year the program arranged public readings and interviews at a variety of locations in Miami. The presentations were videotaped, and in 2002 the University of Miami Libraries, in collaboration with the Department of English, converted the tapes to web-based streaming media so that a wider audience might have the opportunity to enjoy the literary variety and cultural richness expressed in the writings of the participants. The recordings were reconverted to current archival preservation and presentation standards in 2017. In 2023, Professor Emerita Sandra Paquet donated CWSI conference programs, records of CWSI planning activities, history, and tributes to authors such as George Lamming. The new digitized materials add contextual information to the current Caribbean Writers Summer Institute video recordings that are part of the UM Libraries Digital Collections.
