QUOTATIONS from speeches by the late Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson have been captured in a book to be launched shortly, according to Minister of Education Ronald Jones.
The book Barbados Is More Than An Economy – It’s Also A Society is a collection of 250 quotations from speeches given by Thompson between 2007 and 2010 and reflects on Thompson’s vision for, and image of, Barbados.
It could be featured among the selection of books at the first-ever exhibition of books by Barbadian authors which the minister plans to have showcased publicly next year.
Speaking at the launch of two books by Barbadian authors Dr Chamberlain Hope and his daughter Anouche Hope-Fisher at the Island Inn Hotel Friday evening, Jones said his ministry would be putting on “an indigenous display of Barbadian writers at a venue yet to be selected”.
“It is our view that as an education ministry we must encourage, we must provide the exposure for writers in?Barbados. There are persons writing but we don’t in one space see their work. We must create that impetus for others to write,” Jones said.
A retired educator, Hope wrote the book Love And Grief During the War And Riots, a fictional work which captures the social, political and economic conditions in Barbados during the 1920s and 30s, which tore away at the moral fibre of working class families.
Anouche’s book, Yesterday Was A Woman, is a short story about the relationships between three generations of women and the men who touched their lives.
It attempts to capture the colourful dialect and some cultural aspects of 20th century society.
“We do a lot of talking, but we need as a people to write more,” Jones told the guests at the launch that was attended by award-winning, distinguished Barbadian author Dr George Lamming.
“We have stories to tell and when we tell our stories, there are others who can learn from our unique stories. We are a people from great traditions and we have to break through the walls by writing,” the Minister of Education said. (GC)
