One of Jamaica's favourite bards Edward Baugh (left) exchanges words with Colin Channer. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer NOBEL LAUREATE Derek Walcott will take the Calabash Literary Festival, the Caribbean's only such, one step further towards engraving an indelible mark on the development of literature in the region.
Walcott will headline the covey of writers for the third instalment of the festival. His reading will take place on the second day of the festival. The poet and playwright won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992. He has contributed over 20 books of poetry, several plays, including Dream on Monkey Mountain, and theoretical works such as What The Twilight Says to the world of literature.
Walcott is only one of the literary geniuses who will be celebrated at the festival, which will last from Friday May 23 to Sunday, May 25. The festival offers three nights of live readings and music. It is therefore not surprising that this year will see it honouring one of literature's greatest contributors.
Several hours after Walcott's performance, long after the sun has set, Calabash will feature a tribute to Bob Marley. Other performers have been reeled in to deliver Marley's words.
Marley's words will be delivered by those who have also left great impressions on the world of reggae. Chalice's Wayne Armond is one of those scheduled to take part in this segment. Producer Mikie Bennett and Ernie Smith will also share in the Marley tribute. Ibo Cooper rounds out the performers in this segment.
The works of another great Jamaican will also hit the sands of Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth, without her making an appearance. Sunday afternoon closes with readings from the vast repertoire of works from the honourable Louise Bennett-Coverley. The cadre of performers selected to deliver these words will not be overshadowed by those performing Marley's.
Carolyn Cooper, Charles Hyatt, Easton Lee and Lady Saw are the four performers who will deliver Miss Lou's gems. Although a part of what is great about the festival is the chance to see great authors perform their works, audiences should gladly make allowances for the changes made in these two segments.
Calabash will also continue to celebrate the works of those on their way to the top. The segment, 'Women on the Verge' therefore makes a comeback. Angie Cruz, ZZ Packer, Joyce Palmer, and Nelly Rosario are the authors who will be featured in that segment this year. Cruz' work has appeared in LatinaMagazine, Callaloo, The New York Times and New York Newsday. She has also earned The 2000 Arts Fellowship.
Rosario earned the PEN Open Book Award for her novel Song of the Water Saints, while Packer has earned Wallace Stegner and Truman Capote fellowships from Stanford University. Palmer, the lone Jamaican of the lot, was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award for her debut novel Greenwichtown. The festival will once again be opened by tongues hailing from The Poetry Society of Jamaica. This year the society has sent Mel Cooke, Samuel Gordon, Adziko Simba and Sabriya Simon to represent them.
The poetic vibrations continue on Friday evening with 'Tongues of Fire.' This segment will feature four poets from Nigeria, the United States and Jamaica. Everisto is the author of two novels-in-verse. Her second book, The Emperor's Babe received the honour of being dubbed 'Book of the Year' by five national newspapers in the United Kingdom and also earned an Arts Council Writers Award.
The second fiery tongue, Sabrina Hayeem-Ladani, is a poet, performer and educator and has self-published her collection of poetry Harsh Miracles. Carl Hancock Rux, who was selected by The New York Times as 'One of 30 Artists Under The Age of 30 Most Likely to Influence Culture Over the Next 30 Years' is a poet, playwright and fiction writer. The fourth flaming tongue comes from Everton Sylvester. He currently teaches at City University of New York and has had his work published in several anthologies.
At the launch event on Thursday evening, festival founder and artistic director Collin Channer pointed out that Calabash will once again prove the sceptics who scoffed at the literary festival conceptto be very wrong.
