Caribbean countries
have seen a huge boom recently in literary prizes, appointments and festivals, as
governments and the public come to recognize writers’ cultural contributions
to the region. But questions remain about long-term commitment to this arts
sector.
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| Jamaica's new Poet Laureate Mervyn Morris |
For the first
time in 60 years, Jamaica now has a poet laureate, for instance. Acclaimed
scholar and writer Mervyn Morris, 76, was named to the largely ceremonial position
in April and will begin his three-year term after his investiture on May 21.
His
appointment followed a competition managed by the Entertainment Advisory Board
to the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the National Library of
Jamaica, and the Ministry of Youth and Culture. During the contest, the public
was invited to make nominations and many people submitted the names of their
favourite poets.
The Tourism
Enhancement Fund contributed J$3.4 million (US$31,000) to the initiative,
leading to queries about just how the government regards literature. Is the
position to be used to create entertainment and attract more tourists, or to
promote art for the nation’s sake?
Tourism Minister
Dr. Wykeham McNeil said in fact that Jamaica’s Poet Laureate programme would
help to position the island as a key “cultural tourism destination” by helping
to revitalize the arts and preserve the country’s rich literary history.
“The project
dovetails perfectly with our efforts to use programmes such as Arts in the
Park, 90 Days of Summer and Reggae Month …to increase support for and give
greater exposure to our local art forms, while using Jamaica’s cultural
strength as a tourism attractor,” McNeil said.
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| The cover of one of Morris's books. |
“We are
therefore pleased to be giving an even greater voice to Jamaica’s literary arts
through our support of the Poet Laureate Programme. Developing the literary arts remains a key
component of our strategy moving forward and this new programme will help to
further bolster this initiative,” he added.
The Poet
Laureate’s mandate includes promoting Jamaican poetry at home and abroad, and Morris
told SWAN that he looked forward to carrying this out. “I hope to facilitate
increased contact and understanding between Jamaican poets and potential
audiences,” he said. “The position is an honour, and I am grateful.”
He said he
planned to arrange for poets to visit schools and colleges and also hoped to
persuade the media to make more space for effective poems, and perhaps for
discussion of some of the pieces.
“It is
expected that, by the end of my three-year tenure, there will be an anthology
of poems, including perhaps some previously featured in the media,” Morris told
SWAN.
The poet was
born in Kingston and studied at University College of the West Indies and, as a
Rhodes Scholar, at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He was a UK Arts Council Visiting
Writer-in-Residence at the South Bank Centre in 1992 and currently lives in
Kingston, where he is Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing & West Indian
Literature at the University of the West Indies.
His poetry
collections include The Pond, Shadowboxing and Vestiges, and he has also edited
various anthologies and written extensively on Caribbean literature.
PRIZES AND
POLITICS
Morris’ appointment
came ahead of a slew of awards to Caribbean writers at the NGC Bocas Lit
Fest held April 23-27 in Trinidad and Tobago, recognizing the wealth of the region's output.
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| Robert Antoni's winning novel |
The three-year-old
festival, which bills itself as an “annual celebration of books, writing and
writers”, handed out several prizes, with U.S.-born West Indian writer Robert
Antoni wining the overall 2014 One Caribbean Media (OCM) Bocas Prize for
Caribbean Literature for his book As Flies to Whatless Boys.
Antoni said
he would share the US$10,000 award with the two other finalists: Lorna Goodison who won in the poetry category
for Oracabessa, and Kei Miller who won in the non-fiction section for Writing
Down the Vision: Essays and Prophecies. Both writers are from Jamaica.
Antoni said the prize was "wonderful" and "necessary" and that it was up to people in the Caribbean to define their own identity and to "take a place on the world stage".
Antoni said the prize was "wonderful" and "necessary" and that it was up to people in the Caribbean to define their own identity and to "take a place on the world stage".
The festival
was also the venue of the inaugural Burt Award for Caribbean Literature, given
to three English-language literary works for young adults. The winning
submissions were All Over Again by A-dZiko Gegele, Jamaica; Musical Youth by
Joanne Hillhouse, Antigua and Barbuda (manuscript to be published); and Inner
City Girl by Colleen Smith Dennis, Jamaica.
Another
award, which may have the greatest political impact, was the 2014 Hollick
Arvon Caribbean writers prize that went to another Jamaican author - Diana
McCaulay for her work in progress Loving Jamaica.
This prize
recognises emerging Caribbean writers and provides opportunity for training and
for their completed work to be published. For McCaulay, who is founder and CEO
of the Jamaica Environment Trust, the prize is a boost to her environmental
work as well.
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| Diana McCaulay |
“This award
brings together my activist life and my writing life,” McCaulay told SWAN. “This
is the first time I’m writing specifically about my environmental journey.”
The author of two
novels and several short stories, McCaulay has been working for years to
protect the environment in Jamaica and is currently in a legal battle with the
government over plans to develop a transshipment port at Goat Islands – an area
of unique animal and plant species. (See www.savegoatislands.org)
Among her
concerns is the lack of information that has been given to the public. “All our
Access to Information requests for the technical proposal or the Framework
Agreement between the Government of Jamaica and Chinese investors for this
project have been denied. We have
therefore filed legal action requesting leave to apply for judicial review of
these decisions,” she told an interviewer.
A court
hearing is scheduled for later this month. It will come a few days before the start of Jamaica’s leading literary festival – Calabash – which this year will
feature controversial writer Salman Rushdie, among an international group of
literary stars from May 30 to June 1.
