Words need love too – Kamau BrathwaiteThe Nature Island Literary Festival and Book Fair held in Dominica from August 6 to 9 is over. I have read as I was invited to do. So have writers Cynthia Wilson and Philip Nanton who also came from Barbados. I am now sitting on a stone bench in People’s Park situated between two of the city’s hotels – the Fort Young and the Garraway.The excitement that I always experience attending literary festivals is still with me. There’s nothing like a group of writers coming together to create the kind of energy that can dramatically increase output. You just want to write and write for those few days and you do.There’s an incredible opening up of the psyche in the presence of language and ideas at their most imaginative, original, unique.The audience generates its special kind of energy as well. Read at Calabash, for example, and you’re probably spoilt for life in terms of audience-response. Picture this huge tent packed to capacity with the sea as its backdrop. Expectancy is high. The audience wants to hear what you have to say.Many have travelled for miles to reach St Elizabeth, several from different parts of the world. You read as you have never read before since this is the kind of audience a writer dreams of. You’re drawing from their energy. And then, to top it all, they buy the books.Sitting in this park I am in deep thought. What is going through my mind is that I have read my work in Jamaica, St Lucia, just read in Dominica and should be reading in another Caribbean island later this year. What about Barbados? Surely this island is ripe for its own literary festival and book fair. We boast of having one of the best educational systems in the region, maybe the world, but so far we have managed to produce only two writers with the reputation of George Lamming and Kamau Brathwaite Yet, judging by the number of entries to the National Cultural Foundation and the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment, there would seem to be a heightened interest in writing in the country. Creative writing classes are attracting individuals who are serious about developing their writing skills. Barbadian authors have also had more books published in recent years than has been the case for some time.In addition, the NCF organises several islandwide Read-Ins as part of its outreach to encourage writers.So why isn’t there one big Bim Literary Festival where our local, regional and international writers come together in order to showcase and share their work? This is the kind of event that gives writers the extra incentive to work on perfecting their craft. Moreover, writers get the opportunity to hear renowned novelists and poets read their work and suddenly a whole new dimension of language opens up to them. An insular, cliquish, back-slapping environment will do little, if anything, to improve our writing abilities.The public in general also stands to benefit. Oh how desperately we need an alternative to the culture of “easy” entertainment that for the most part requires little engagement of the mind or the creative use of the imagination. Indeed, there must be a significant number of Barbadians who are tired of the wuk-up culture and are hungry for the kind of event that entertains, enlightens and enriches.The planning of a literary festival, however, is in my view best left to writers themselves or individuals known to be associated with writing. All four of the abovementioned festivals began out of the passion writers felt for their craft and the overarching desire to share their work with other writers and with a wider audience. Kwame Dawes is an outstanding poet whom some call the second Derek Walcott. Dawes, Colin Channer and Justine Henzell, all writers, birthed Calabash which has now achieved international reputation and attracts some of the top writers around the world.Adrian Agard and Robert Lee both writers, are carving out the same path for St Lucia as is Alwin Bully for Dominica. One can only hope fervently that the government, the private sector and private benefactors can see the benefit of investing in the minds and sensibilities of the people. The Caribbean region cannot be known for just sea, sun and fun. We are people of rich imagination and creative talent. The literature we produce is one of the best of reflecting who we are as a people and sharing this experience with the world.
• Esther Phillips is an educator, poet and editor of BIM: Arts For the 21st Century.