The UTT Campus at the Southern Academy of the Performing Arts (Sapa) will be transformed into a colourful festival plaza during a weekend buzzing with readers and writers, storytellers and performers, historians, booksellers, all participants in the 2014 NGC Bocas Lit Fest South.
The two-day South festival opens at 10.30 am on November 8, with a tribute to the life and work of San Fernando son, Samuel Selvon. To mark the 20th anniversary of his death, popular actors Errol Sitahal and David Sammy will dramatise excerpts from Selvon's novels, while Prof Kenneth Ramchand will recall his own analysis of The Other Selvon.
In a rich programme that mirrors the Port-of-Spain NGC Bocas Lit Fest, two of the Caribbean's finest writers–Jamaican poet Tanya Shirley and Barbadian sci-fi writer Karen Lord–will lead special writing workshops in their genres.
A release from the organisers said local writers, including Barbara Jenkins, Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw, Sharon Millar, Vashti Bowlah, Michael Cozier, Lisa Allen-Agostini, K Jared Hosein, Kumar Mahabir and Lisa Allen-Agostini, will read from their latest work.
Other festival participants will feature in panel discussions on diverse subjects, such as RSA Garcia on the rise of speculative (sci-fi/ fantasy) fiction, now one of the bestselling genres of our time, and on the experience of writing and publishing from home in the Caribbean.
Life stories and memoirs will be part of the mix, with world traveler, Jan Westmaas, and the leader of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Sat Maharaj, whose eponymous biography is just off the press. Historical researchers Angelo Bissessarsingh, Hazel Manning and Eric Lewis are also featured in readings and discussions.
The spotlight falls too on new and emerging talent in Who's Next?, featuring writers Zahra Gordon, Ayanna Lloyd, Janine Horsford and Kirk Budhooram. And, upcoming writers, of prose or poetry, can sign-up at the festival to read at the open forum Stand & Deliver at 1 pm on November 9.
The Two Cents poets - some of the country's best spoken word artists - will perform, and extempo artist Black Sage will entertain with his verse, as will singer-songwriter, Pauliana Padmore. Children of all ages can enjoy two full days of free, special workshops with Lylah Persad and the mystic storyteller Auntie Thea.
According to Festival Director, Marina Salandy-Brown, this is a special weekend. "We are offering a wonderful array of writing and writers who will entertain as much as they will provoke our thinking. The Lit Fest is intended to create a space for everyone who loves words � written, spoken, performed, and who loves that more than the average Trini?"
INFO
All events are free and open to the public. Only writing workshops cost $60 and require pre-registration. To view the full programme and to register for writing workshops visit www.bocaslitfest.com or contact the Bocas Lit Fest by email: info@bocaslitfest.com or telephone: 222-7099.
NGC BOCAS LIT FEST SOUTH PROGRAMME?
NEXT SATURDAY
OPENING
Remembering Samuel Selvon
Celebrating Selvon's life and work on the 20th anniversary of his death. Feature Remarks by Ken Ramchand. Dramatisations by Errol Sitahal and David Sammy.
Time: 10.30 � 11.30 am
LUNCHTIME JAM
Browse the stalls, get books signed, grab some lunch to the extempo beats of Black Sage and other specially invited performers.
Time: 11.30 am � 12.30 pm
WHO'S NEXT?
New Writers From T&T
Readings by 4 promising new writers from T&T: Zahra Gordon, Ayanna Lloyd, Jannine Horsford and Kirk Budhooram.
Chaired by Shivanee Ramlochan.
Time: 12.30 pm � 1.30 pm
FICTION: BRINGING THE PAST TO LIFE
Writers Michael Cozier, Vashti Bowlah and Lisa Allen-Agostini put their own spin on stories from Trinidad's past.
Chaired by Nicholas Laughlin.
Time: 1.45 pm � 2.45 pm
LIFE STORIES
Traveller, Jan Westmaas, and The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Secretary General, Sat Maharaj, together with his biographer Dr Kumar Mahabir, discuss their lives and inspirations with Marina Salandy-Brown.
Time: 3pm � 4 pm
WORKSHOP
An introduction to speculative fiction, with Karen Lord
Award-winning author Karen Lord introduces a most popular contemporary genre. A workshop for all prose writers keen to experiment with and master the specific challenges of writing alternate histories and worlds, sci-fi, fantasy, dystopia and post-apocalyptic narratives. Pre-registration required.
POETRY
Tanya Shirley of Jamaica talks to Nicholas Laughlin about her newly released collection, The Merchant of Feathers.
Time: 4.15 pm� 5 pm
2 CENTS PRESENTS
Performances by the best young spoken word and musical talents.
Time: 5 pm� 6 pm
NEXT SUNDAY
WORD PLAY
From letters, to words, to stories, don't get left behind by the Pierrot Grenade's word play.
Time: 10.30 am � 11 am
HISTORY UNEARTHED
Researchers Hazel Manning and Eric Lewis, explore their on-going work in preserving the history of the South with historian Angelo Bissessarsingh.
Time: 11 am � 11.45 am
CRIME AS FICTION: WORSE THAN REALITY?
Fiction writers, Barbara Jenkins, Cynthia Birch and Elisha Bartels read from short stories about crime in T&T; and Caron Asgarali shares her true-life account of being attacked at gunpoint in La Romaine. Crime reporter Gyasi Gonzales asks the question, how does fiction compare to the everyday reality of crime?
Time: 12 pm � 12.45 pm
STAND & DELIVER
Calling wordsmiths of all kinds, new and experienced, poet and novelist, to present their work at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest South! Register for your spot on the day.
Time: 12.45 pm � 2 pm
WORKSHOP
Poetry in Progress, with Tanya Shirley
An introductory workshop to help poets unlock their imaginations and take their work to the next level.
Pre-registration required.
Time: 2 pm � 5 pm
SPECULATIVE FICTION
RSA Garcia (Lex Talionis) and Karen Lord (The Best of All Possible Worlds) read from new novels, and discuss the rise of speculative fiction and the experience of writing and publishing from at home in the Caribbean.
Chaired by Shivanee Ramlochan.
Time: 2 pm � 2.45 pm
ONE-ON-ONE
Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw reads from her latest novel, Mrs B, loosely inspired by Flaubert's Madame Bovary, about the life of an upper middle-class family in contemporary Trinidad.
Chaired by Nicholas Laughlin.
Time: 3 pm � 3.45pm
PEPPERPOT: BEST NEW STORIES FROM THE CARIBBEAN
Published by Peekash
A pan-Caribbean anthology of the very best Commonwealth Short Story Prize entries. Following its launch at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in April, Pepperpot comes to San Fernando with readings by K. Jared Hosein, Kevin Baldeosingh and Sharon Millar.
Presented by Anna Lucie-Smith, with music by Pauliana Padmore.
Time: 4 pm � 5 pm.?