Campus Lit Week starts tomorrow

Memoirist and fiction writer Monique Roffey, whose novel Archipelago is long-listed for the OCM Bocas Prize this year, is one of several noted writers scheduled for the lunchtime readings at the UWI St Augustine Campus Literature Week from March 18-21.

Held annually by the Literatures in English department, the readings seek to highlight emerging undergraduate writers and the works-in-progress of the MFA candidates at the St Augustine campus. They promise to form a hearty appetiser to the gala reading by prize-winning author Rabindranath Maharaj, which closes the week on March 22.

Also scheduled to read at the lunchtime sessions are poet Danielle Boodoo Fortuné and Hollick Arvon prize finalists Ann Second and Lisa Allen-Agostini. “It is simply a celebration of writing and reading,” said MFA candidate Dara Wilkinson, one of the week’s organisers. “It is a way to encourage people to be interested in writing, in hearing it read and attempting it themselves.

To echo the sentiment of Rabindranath Maharaj, our writer-in-residence this year, and to paraphrase his words a bit, Campus Literature Week is one of the events that brings together the community of writers—helping to build that community so we support one another and continue to have a presence.”

Campus Literature Week lunchtime readings run from noon to 1.30 pm on March 18-21 at the AV Room, Alma Jordan Library, UWI, St Augustine. Writers interested in reading may contact Dara Wilkinson at [email protected]