Emile Hunt is the latest emerging Bahamian writer to take his work to the top and represent The Bahamas on a global scale - this July, a short story he penned will appear in the prestigious Transition Magazine, published by the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University.
Guided by a suggestion and then encouragement by his fellow writer and friend Keisha Ellis, who looked over the short story, he took a chance and submitted the work to the magazine despite being intimidated by the Harvard name.
Four months later, he was elated not only to find out that the story had been accepted, but that the chief editor of Transition Magazine personally relayed her positive remarks to his work.
"I wanted to shout in joy but I didn't, I just said a quick prayer and said thanks because I am really grateful for this talent God has given me," said Hunt.
"I'm grateful for this opportunity to have my work in the magazine and at the fingertips of so many readers. A Bahamian work getting out there, a Bahamian voice getting out there in this form of academia - I'm just thankful for that."
The short story, "Names of the Dead", said Hunt, examines the life of wayward pastor Mario Major struggling under the weight of the legacy of his forefathers. In a magical realist twist, he begins hearing voices of marginalized and troubled individuals in the world of the dead and begins feeling their effects on his physical and emotional health.
"Not until he comes to some realization of the people he should represent just like his forefathers - this disenfranchised - and helps them, not until he comes to accept the names of the dead, will he come to his true self and his identity," explains Hunt.
The story is just one of many in an impending short story collection by the promising young fiction writer. After completing his English language and literature studies at The College of The Bahamas, he went on to pursue an MFA in creative writing at the University of West Indies in 2008, beginning his collection of short stories then. Though he's completing his MFA this year, he's already looking at PhD programs in creative writing.
Some of his work has already been published in Poui, tongues of the ocean, and Small Axe, yet he hopes to begin finding a publisher for the complete finished collection this year. No doubt the latest acceptance of his work is the vote of confidence he needs to put the finishing touches on the work, complete the MFA and simultaneously find a publisher.
"The reason my collection took so long is because I couldn't complete them in Trinidad," said Hunt. "They were Bahamian stories and I was detached from my setting. I couldn't put the finishing touches on them until I got home and immersed myself in the people and the culture."
Indeed his work, like "Names of the Dead", examines masculinity through male relationships in The Bahamas - whether father and son or friend-to-friend or even lover to lover. Such a decision, said Hunt, serves to highlight the importance of positive male roles models in society.
Hunt himself is doing his part - he's currently teaching English language and literature at C. V. Bethel. Besides keeping his writing practice sharp by keeping him in touch with the basics, teaching an especially underperformed subject across the board in Bahamian schools allows him to encourage a respect and love for reading and writing in Bahamian youth.
"Spiritually, I believe men have an obligation not only to their families but to younger men, to teach them how to carry themselves in society," he said. "They can look at me with my rough exterior and see that it's ok for a man to express his feelings, to write about the experiences of others, to involve yourself in the depth of a character."
"It's important to change the path that most of our young men are on," he continued. "In my classes, the young men have come to realize what we call reading and education are not 'sissy' or 'light' or the easy way out, it's a way to express yourself."
Yet a love and appreciation for that craft also begins at a young age - something, which as a teacher, he encourages parents to develop in children the ways his parents did.
"I think it's important for parents to encourage reading. I remember my parents reading to me at a really young age," he said.
"I was rapt and from then on I was obsessed with characters and stories. Everything I could get my hands on, I read. My parents encouraged that, they poured that into me. I think it's important for parents to take note of what they pour into their kids."
Hunt is also grateful to his own mentors - Sis. Annie Thompson, Arlene Nash Ferguson, Fr. Sebastian Campbell and Dr. Ian Strachan, to name a few - who he believes have also helped him get to this milestone as a writer.
Next up, he and Keisha Ellis will attend the Cropper Writer's Workshop in Trinidad, a by-application only prestigious workshop that is held every two years for Caribbean writers. With this new accomplishment under his belt, he is ready more than ever to take Bahamian writing to the world and make a great impression on the globe.
"We're excited to go there and show them what Bahamian literature is all about," he said. "We're going to show that we have powerful stories also, we have tales we can share."
"I think this generation right now, this group of writers moving forward, this movement is going to be something great," he continued. "I think it's going to shock the world. There are more avenues being opened up to us in a globalized world with readerships, so it's going to draw eyes down here to see what we're doing in The Bahamas and that's going to be beneficial for all of us."n

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