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Exciting literary festival for Montserrat

Posted by CaribShout on November 10, 2009 at 12:39am

By Cathy Buffonge SALEM, Montserrat -- This weekend a most exciting Literary Festival is planned, spearheaded by the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies here in Montserrat. The Alliouagana Festival of the Word, running from Thursday 12th to Sunday 15th November, will feature a host of distinguished Caribbean authors, and will include book readings, workshops, discussions as well as dramatic performances. The Festival will take place at the Cultural Centre, which forms a centrepiece for the planned new town. Among the acclaimed authors taking part are three winners of the prestigious Commonwealth Literary Prize: Earl Lovelace, Pauline Melville and Funso Aiyejina The pre-Festival activity on Thursday 12th November will be a public lecture by Professor Carolyn Cooper of the University of the West Indies Mona Campus on the topic Sweet and Sour Sauce: Sexual Politics in Jamaican Dancehall Culture. This session promises to be stimulating and thought provoking, a good start to the Festival, The Festival proper begins on Friday evening, November 13th, with an opening ceremony, preceded by the Governor’s cocktail party for featured authors and visitors attending the Festival. The opening ceremony will include the prize giving for the 2009 annual Creative Writing Competition, which includes poetry and short stories. Next comes a Calyspo Review, featuring among others Professor Gordon Rohlehr of UWI St Augustine Campus, followed by Behind the Songs, with composers, performers and musicians giving their point of view, topped off by a Calypso Extravaganza. On the Saturday there will be presentations by several Caribbean authors, including Maria-Elena John, originally from Antigua but much influenced by Africa and the African American and Caribbean experience: She will discuss the process “from novel to screenplay”, with her novel Unburnable.” Trinidadian author Dr Merle Hodge of the UWI St Augustine Campus will read extracts from her book Crick Crack Monkey and For the Life of Laetitia. Montserratian dramatist Yvonne Weekes will read extracts from her book of memoirs Volcano and from a collection of her work; while Guyanese / British author Pauline Melville will read excerpts from her books The Ventriloquist’s Tale and the just published Eating Air. There will be three workshops, starting with Creative Writing (poetry and short story) with Dr Merle Hodge and prolific Nigerian author Professor Funso Aiyejina, of the St Augustine Campus, who will also read from his collection of short stories at a separate session. The third workshop will be on Publishing, with African American publisher Cherise Fisher, Editor-in-Chief at Plume, who has Montserratian roots, This packed day will close with a dramatic performance featuring story telling by Felix Edinborough as Pierrot Grenade the Wordsmith, and A-dZiko Simba with the Man with the Mouth The Sunday starts with a workshop In Translation with Montserratian playwright and novelist Edgar Nkosi White, together with a reading of his play Count it all Joy. Later he will discuss Langston Hughes’ role as a translator and his impact on Caribbean writers. Montserratian academic, writer and researcher Dr JA George Irish, Professor of Caribbean and Latin American Studies at Medgar Evers University in New York, will read his translations of Spanish poetry. He will also present on Dramatic Traditions in Montserrat, featuring the work of dramatists Vincent Browne, David Edgecombe, Edgar Nkosi White and Yvonne Weekes. Montserrat’s distinguished historian and poet Professor Sir Howard Fergus will read from his work as well as taking part in a panel paying tribute to the life and work of Montserratian writer the late E Archie Markham. Also taking part in this panel will be Guyanese / British author Pauline Melville with My memories of Archie, together with a tribute from Tindall Street Press. The day will climax with another dramatic performance, Pelau: the Second Serving, produced by Montserrat’s innovative drama group Plenty Plenty Yac Ya Ya, led by Chadd Cumberbatch and A-dZiko Simba. Complementing the programme, there will be ongoing activities in the courtyard of the Cultural Centre, including book stalls with books by featured authors and other local / regional writers; also on sale will be the best of local art and craft, as well as food and drink. Massage therapy will be available, and a crèche for young children to allow parents to attend the sessions. A souvenir booklet is also being prepared. Coordinator and organizer of the Festival is hard working and dedicated Head of Montserrat’s UWI Open Campus, Gracelyn Cassell, who conceived the Festival and holds everything together, assisted by her small but diligent staff, steering committee members and other dedicated volunteers. The Festival has received funding from Montserrat’s Tourism Challenge Fund as well as several generous donors. This is indeed a packed and exciting programme, which should attract people from all over the Caribbean and beyond. For further information people can check the website http://www.litfest.ms/
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