Books and ideas

And literature plays a huge part in reflecting social reality, fostering understanding and shaping our conception of how the world can and should be. Do not underestimate the power of the pen.

Therefore, events like the recently- concluded NGC Bocas Lit Fest are essential if we aspire to drive development as a country.

Over the course of five days, participants __ including those gathered at multiple venues such as the Old Fire Station and NALIS, Port of Spain, and beyond and thousands of others tuning-in online __ were treated to a range of panel discussions, one-on-one interviews, workshops and open-mic events that featured writers, poets, essayists, artists, politicians, trade unionists and more.

The festival’s claim to being the Caribbean’s largest literary festival has long been justified. This year, however, it expanded its reach even further with CineLit: its Latin American and Caribbean film screening program.

All of this has been organised in such a way as to remain free to the public.

The increasing sprawl of festival events is one indicator of the success of the festival. Another is the fact of renewed global recognition of Caribbean writers who have long placed the region on the literary map.

The festival was held this year in the wake of the death of Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, but poets came out in droves as if to prove that poetry is not dead. The overall winner of the OCM 2017 Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature was on Saturday night announced as Kei Miller for his beautifully-wrought novel Augustown.

For Miller, this achievement as a novelist comes just three years after his winning of the Forward Prize for his poetry collection The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion. He continues a long tradition of poets being story-tellers, bringing to life news that always stays news. He is not alone as the full line-up of this year’s festival demonstrated.

While there was some debate at the festival this year over whether literature and ideology should mix, we note that the question is a non-starter.

For, as Yusef Komunyakaa once said, language is inherently political.

There is little else that could be more radical than being a writer or an artist, especially in this society.

The issue then becomes a question of not whether artists should say anything political but whether they should produce good art. And good art will never be art that is morally compromised, that perpetuates tropes of misogyny, prejudice, homophobia and hate. While activism and art are separate, neither hurt one another. And it is wrong to dismiss art that is socially-engaged.

Art that responds to life and its challenges is art that has a moral conscience.

This has nothing to do with the quality of the art, which is a matter of subjective taste. Rather it has everything to do with our condition of being. A socially-engaged artist is simply the fulfillment of the social contract.

This year’s festival featured important panel discussions on issues such as human rights, press freedom and LGBTQI rights. Of note was a call from Colin Robinson, the poet and lobbyist who leads CAISO, for politicians to fulfill their responsibility when it comes to the rights of the LGBTQI. Robinson once more pointed out that legislators need not enact ambitious reforms but can make simple, small changes that are not strategically risky in order to start the ball rolling.

We congratulate all who played a hand in bringing about this year’s festival __ the seventh __ and those who contributed to its wealth of ideas and to its beauty. We also commend the decision of the State __ specifically the Ministry of Community Development and the Arts __ to become a main sponsor, ensuring more editions of this vital festival.