With this year’s focus on connections, the 41st West Indian Literature Conference seeks to bring together academics, postgraduate students, creative practitioners, secondary school educators, and the general public to both critically assess the literature and celebrate the scholarly analysis of West Indian (Caribbean) literary artists. This conference gathering also takes the opportunity to recognize the connections between West Indian music and West Indian writing. We honor the life and brilliant cultural criticism of the late Professor Emeritus Gordon Rohlehr (UWI, St. Augustine), and we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Noises in the Blood by Professor Emerita Carolyn Cooper (UWI, Mona); and Woman Version by Professor Emeritus Evelyn O’Callaghan (UWI, Cave Hill), two texts that continue to inspire scholars to make new critical connections among gender, music, orality, and literature.