'FROM THE sublime to the ridiculous'
THIS IS the motto of LMH publishing, named for its owner Mike Henry, and it represented the range of books that were available at the Fashion and Family Book Fair held at Villa Ronai in Kingston on Sunday.
The two day event began on Saturday with the launch which featured books readings and signings by models and authors. On Sunday, Professor Rex Nettleford gave an analysis of Douglas Manley's The Candidate which he called an "enjoyable readable story of the Jamaican people."
Among the authors present on Sunday evening was David Brailsford author of Duppy Stories and the new Confessions of Anansi and Dr. Miguel Brooks author of Negus and its sequel Kebra Nagast read 'the glory of Kings'.
While Brailsford's novels focus on Jamaican culture and the passing down of the legacy of slaves through storytelling, Dr. Brooks' novels typically deal with very controversial issues. Kebra Nagast is bound to raise a few eyebrows with its claim to chart the '18 absentees of Christ' between ages 12 and 30, a period the author says is missing from the King James Version of The Bible. Though both authors hail from countries outside Jamaica they have taken special interest in the Jamaican culture and heritage.
Though these books were 'serious' in content, the other end of the spectrum was represented in books such as LMH's Dictionary of Popular Jamaican Phrases and the soon to be released Sex Island Style. "I believe in no restrictions, in allowing each author to be free to publish what it is as long as it is not libellous." said Mike Henry. LHM has been in existence for five years and has published numerous books, novels and educational material.
Henry says there is no limit to what his company can and will do to unearth the 'earning potential' of what he calls 'the creative industries' of the Jamaican people. He in fact hopes to release a Jamaican version of the banned Expose from Within the Housekeeper's diaries of The English Monarchy. This he says might help to "shape up the whole moral structure of Jamaica" in addition to of course providing for the housekeepers an additional source of earning.
Henry is convinced that writing should go the direction of building the country. In fact he seems passionate about the issue of intellectual property rights and the value of creativity in building the country.
His vision he says is to see those who have a history of success from creative endeavours such as music, drama, poetry and so on, be allowed the same form of consideration from financial institutions as do others who have 'collateral'.
"What they write and create as music, drama or poetry, has an asset value which the banks must recognise," he said. "Our poets, hip hop artists and illustrators, if they can sell 10 books, 100 paintings 30 CDs whatever the numbers you want then you should be able to take this as an historical earning and give them the money to create the next level ... the economic structure, the banks, the government in support of that must recognise that the creative element of our people is more valuable than concrete and steel."
