Latest from MEP

• The 100th issue of Caribbean Beat was published at the beginning of November, and is on the aircraft of Caribbean Airlines till the end of the year. I don't know for sure if that's a record run for a magazine in the English-speaking Caribbean — does anyone know if a Caribbean magazine has reached that landmark before? Caribbean Beat has been published without interruption for 18 years, since the beginning of 1992, basically as the inflight magazine of BWIA and then of Caribbean Airlines, but it has also earned a loyal following of readers who get hold of the magazine somehow even when they're not flying.

Forgive a little round of applause here. My thanks and congratulations to all the folks who have worked on the magazine since 1992, kept it in business and maintained its high standards. Especially editors Judy Raymond (current), Skye Hernandez, Donna Lyndersay and Nicholas Laughlin; designers Russel Halfhide and Kevon Webster; sales experts Geraldine Flower (in London) and Helen Shair-Singh; Caroline Neisha Taylor (website); and the financial and admin staff who keep us on a tight rein, especially Joanne Mendes, Hazel Mansingh and Mirissa de Four. Now, on to the next 100?

• Incidentally, designer Kevon Webster got married last Saturday — to our other designer, Aisha Provoteaux. I guess that's what happens when you put two graphic artists together in a small office and tell them to collaborate.

• The 2010 Discover Trinidad and Tobago is out, designed by Aisha and edited by Caroline Neisha Taylor, and I think it might be the best we've done so far. Discover has been running even longer than Caribbean Beat — it published its first issue in 1991 — but appears once a year to Caribbean Beat's six, so it has a bit longer to go still before reaching its 100th issue. It's packed with hard useful information and maps, and should be available at all the good hotels in Trinidad and Tobago as well as at Crown Point airport and various other tourism-related sites. So ask for your free copy if you don't see it.

• Energy Caribbean, the indispensable newsletter about the energy industry in the Caribbean (not just Trinidad and Tobago, but Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, Belize, Cuba ...), published its 46th issue at the start of December, and was distributed to participants at the annual IBC Energy Caribbean conference here in Port of Spain. Sales manager Denise Chin was at the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum in Jamaica's Montego Bay in October (with so much tropical sun, wind and waves, why is the Caribbean so slow to get into alternative energy sources?). And the 47th issue will be out in late January, in time for the annual energy conference of the South Trinidad Chamber of Commerce starting on January 27.

• We've just published a book called The Old House and the Dream, the first full-length history of the famous Asa Wright Nature Centre, which lies in the hills of the Northern Range above Arima. Author Joy Rudder tells the story of the centre itself, the century-old estate house at its core, the irascible Icelander Asa Wright, and the many people who helped to create the world-class facility that exists today. The book includes 32 pages of historic photographs, and is available locally at the Centre and at Metropolitan Bookstores; for overseas shipping, check the Asa Wright Centre website.

• Coming up soon are two other books — Bolero, a major retrospective of the work and life of the German, Tobago-based sculptor Luise Kimme, in coffee-table format; and, in collaboration with the Institute of Marine Affairs, Wetlands of Trinidad and Tobago, a serious but easy-to-read primer which explains why we all need to respect wetlands (including reefs and mangroves) instead of casually shoving them out of the way to make room for human development. The book should be out by International Wetlands Day next February.

• As well as consolidating our separate blogs into this one MEP Publishers blog, we've been overhauling the MEP websites and the associated sites for each publication. Website manager Caroline Neisha Taylor has been doing a great job on this major update — check out the new sites if you haven't already seen them: www.meppublishers.com, www.discovertnt.com.

• The MEP offices in Port of Spain will be closing this Friday, December 18, and re-opening on January 4. To all readers, supporters and friends — thanks for your continued interest, have a great Christmas, and let's hope 2010 is a better year for all of us than 2009!