Dalton Laing, Gleaner Writer
Amina Blackwood Meeks speaks during the inaugural WiLDE (Women in Literature, Development and Enterprise) Literary Festival in Negril, Westmoreland, last Saturday. - DALTON LAING FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
RENOWNED STORY-TELLER Amina Black-wood Meeks says revelation, reclamation and redemption must form a part of the responsibilities of black female writers.
She was addressing a group of writers at the Time Square Shopping Plaza, Negril, Westmoreland, during a workshop put on by the United Kingdom based group Women in Literature Development and Enterprise (WILDE) last Saturday.
She reminded her audience that this is the eve of 200 years since the abolition of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade in 1807 and, as such, what do we want those who write on our behalf to say about who we are, where we are and what has been our contribution to civilisation.
POSITIVE CONNECTION
"Part of that has to be the recognition of the responsibility to be a positive part of the connection between the past and the future," she says. "We have to fashion a present that we can be proud of."
Pointing to writers who joke with words, especially DJs, Blackwood Meeks said "some people are joking with words. That empower others to take liberty and steps towards the destruction of this present and make the task of making a positive connection between the past and the future that more difficult".
The workshop was part of the WLDE Summer Poetry Alliance (WiSPA), a literary festival from July 2 to 15 which will now become a calendar event in Negril. The festival was initiated by a group of black female writers from the UK who have
been visiting Negril for the past three years in order to develop a positive connection with the local female writers.
Out of this festival, which is termed as a journey, will come a Just Write Café which will be a centre for the creative arts, with facilitators from across the globe coming to Jamaica to do workshops and also learn from the local culture.
LOCAL WOMEN
The main objectives of the Just Write are to give local women an opportunity to develop a magazine with the support of local and national media, provide an information technology section where women can develop skills associated with computers and facilitate a library of new and used books. It is also slated to provide affordable accommodation as well as accommodate and facilitate an electronic link between students in Jamaica and the UK.
BLACK WOMEN
The idea started in 2003 by a group of black women who were vacationing in Jamaica. Their return on a yearly, led to the initiation of the festival which had several workshops on this its inaugural staging.
According to facilitator for the workshop and marketing director of WiLDE Network Ltd., Marcia 'Culture' Gordon, the energy and vibrations have left the UK organising team no choice but to look into developing a conception of a Jamaica WILDE.
