Raven Phillips

Thankful to the VI National Park for another opportunity to engage in poetry with the Youth Conservation Corp

This year we hiked Johnny Horn Trail and reflected on connection to history, to land, and to ourselves.

Wishing you all similar reflections and a happy

I made my return to radio this past Carnival season. Thank you to WSTA1340 for the opportunity to celebrate our youth

And thank you to both the performers and organizers who made the parade possible 🫶🏾🇻🇮

Parables from the 2026 St. Thomas Carnival Children’s Parade This year I had the honor of joining Judi Shimel and Peter Ottley on WSTA1340 in their coverage of the 2026 Children’s Parade in St.Thomas, and to call the opportunity a blessing is an understatement.

I’ve returned to my long neglected Substack to share some thoughts I have stewing about Carnival.

See the first brain dump of multiple here ☺️

Raven Phillips (@ravenphillips) Sharing some brief thoughts on Carnival and the behavior that accompanies it

🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮

Coming soon from Akashic Books and available for pre-order — 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝗶𝗿 edited by 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗬𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀
https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/virgin-islands-noir-2/

"On the heels of Haiti Noir, Trinidad Noir, Kingston Noir, and San Juan Noir, the Akashic Noir Series dives even deeper into foreboding, luminous Caribbean literature.

Description
BRAND-NEW STORIES BY: Tiphanie Yanique, Richard Georges, Johanna Gibson, Eugenia O’Neal, Celeste Rita Baker, Nisha Khiani Savara, Sophia Aubin, Cadwell Turnbull, Rea Vanterpool, Vincent Omni, Traci O’Dea, Tobias S. Buckell, Gillian Royes, Hadiya Sewer, and Raven Phillips.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY TIPHANIE YANIQUE & RICHARD GEORGES:

“The writers here represent the greater Virgin Islands, made up of the territories separated, by colonialism, into the British Virgin Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. In sidestepping this political distinction, we honor both the everyday experiences of Virgin Islanders as well as the creative possibilities of fiction. Most Virgin Islanders who are native (in the US parlance) or belongers (in the British parlance) have family ties across these national borders anyway. Many Virgin Islanders are both natives and belongers. Some work in one territory and reside in another. Then there are those who live and work on the water that connects all the islands . . . The VI is made up of about a hundred islands, so we have always been home to both journeyers and newcomers . . .

“Virgin Islanders keep our secrets close—especially the darker ones. We want to ensure we make a good impression—especially if our livelihoods depend on it, which they often do in a tourism economy. For us, Virgin Islands Noir is a major anthology—one of the first to likely reach beyond the islands themselves. But the Virgin Islands is a place literally named for an innocence fearful of exploitation, so it was initially discomforting to many of the writers here that this vision of us would be in noir—a literary genre that highlights crime and bleakness. Over a number of years, the editors charged the storytellers here to write real. It’s true that sometimes we are the innocent virgins of St. Ursula’s pilgrimage, as Christopher Columbus named us. But one way to claim you exist as a fully complex humanity is to admit that you also have your dangerous sides. Sometimes, maybe, we will be the ones to devour you.”

Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before August 4, 2026."

I’ve been told that this profile doesn’t fully capture who I am or what I am passionate about, so let this post serve as a reintroduction 😂

Long story short: I am a writer, poet, cultural practitioner, community advocate, and an aspiring librarian/archivist.

My writing career started in high school as a reporter for the St. John Tradewinds. Since then my writing has appeared in the V.I. Source, the V.I. Daily News and Destination Magazine. I’ve also pursued professional writing opportunities through my business Raven’s Quill, which primarily engages in grant writing.

My creative works include essays, poetry and short stories. I have a substack where I write about local culture, mental health, and more.

https://open.substack.com/pub/ravenphillips

One of my stories is included in the soon to be released V.I. Noir, edited by Tiphanie Yanique and Richard Georges. My poetry has appeared in the Caribbean Writer and Moko Magazine. Additionally, I have been the host of the Rhyme and Lime open mic poetry event in St. John since 2021. In 2025, I edited the poetry anthology, Like Salt and Wet Soil, which features over five years worth of original works shared at Rhyme and Lime. I greatly enjoy hosting poetry workshops, and have had the opportunity to share my works at both the BVI Literary Festival and the USVI Literary Festival and Book Fair.

Outside of my writing, I have been a Bamboula dancer since 2018. Bamboula is the ancestral dance of the Virgin Islands, and it is a blessing to be a steward of it. In 2022, I helped form the Coziah Dancers, a group dedicated to the preservation of Bamboula through performances, workshops, and scholarship. We have participated in multiple Dollar fo Dollar performances since our formation, and our 2025 performance was included as part of an exhibition at the The Postal Museums exhibit, Voices of Resistance: Slavery and Post in the Caribbean.

https://www.postalmuseum.org/visit-us/what-to-expect/exhibitions/voices-of-resistance/

I and one other member are also featured in the upcoming documentary Bamboula Eh Séa Yea, directed by Geron Richards.

Alongside the litany of performances and dance workshops I’ve done over the years, in 2025 I was able to utilize a grant from the VI Council on the Arts (through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C.) to host a series of free Bamboula workshops in St. John titled, Bamboula: V.I. History in Motion.

I’ve always believed that you ought to use your skills in service of community, and that is reflected in the leadership roles I engage in. I have been a board member for creative non-profit VI Crawl for several years, and have co-hosted their project The Fish Fry for 3 election seasons. The Fish Fry aims to engage in civic education for all ages in the Virgin Islands, and interview political candidates for the benefit of the voting public. Through this role I was interviewed by WTJX, and I appeared as a panelist for their 2024 Election Night coverage.

I most recently took on the role of Director of Programming for the St. John Film Society, where I intend to continue their mission of screening independent films that celebrate the human spirit with a focus on the Caribbean.

Excuse the length of this post. May I gradually chronicle the things I do moving forward so I’m not writing essays about myself every year 😭😭😭

I had a delightful time connecting with with writers, creators, and community members at the U. S. Virgin Islands Literary Festival and Book Fair in St. Croix this past weekend.

St. Croix has such a wealth of artists. There’s so many faces I got to see offline for the first time, and so many news friends with journeys to support from the little island.

I was able to have a real Crucian breakfast, go home with some bush tea, grab poetry books by the late Richard Schrader and the lovely Elle A. Nielsen, and so much more

Thankful to have shared space with you all, thankful to have met Edwidge Danticat, and I hope to return to the big island soon 🫶🏾

We are live at the USVI Literary Festival and Book Fair for the Bush Tea Social

See the livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/cCpRwhrLmQw?si=y9nOLXv65dJ4nUCz

Join me and DaraMonifah Cooper for a morning of poetry and discussion!

Proud to announce i’ll be engaging with writers and sharing some poetry at the USVI Literary Festival & Book Fair this weekend!

On Friday we’ll have some open mic action at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in a mini Rhyme and Lime West 🎙️🍋‍🟩

On Saturday morning we’ll have some reading and reflections over breakfast at the Albert A. Sheen Campus, and that evening we’ll have ekphrastic poetry at the Cane Roots Art Gallery

Looking forward to seeing everyone! 🫶🏾