Making literary waves

Machel, Kees Dieffenthaller and Muhammad Muwakil (who read from Baz Dreisinger’s book Incarceration Nations) joined several inmates from the Port-of-Spain Prison, Women’s Prison and Maximum Security Prison in our own tribute to poetry and literature.

Talking to an empty chair, Ryan Khan of the Maximum Security Prison traced the journey of a young man in prison, changing voices and offering different perspectives of the pain that engulfs an inmate and his family.

Ryan got a chance to perform his poem along with 15 other poets at the Open Mike competition on the closing day of the Bocas Lit Fest. He won first place in the competition.

A condemned inmate read a poem from Wishing for Wings about my first CXC class in the Youth Training Centre. One of my students, Mikado Toussaint, performed his poem, Little Miss Sunshine, which won the Portof- Spain Prison Competition that the Prisons’ Programmes department and I ran. As usual, inmates impressed everyone in attendance with their creativity.

Once again, we proved what teamwork can accomplish. Everything that I have been able to accomplish these days in the prison system happens because of collaboration.

It takes many high-ranking prison officers, from Sherwin Bruce to Fabian Alexander and Acting Commissioner Cecil Duke, to move mountains for such events.

On the other side, Marina Salandy-Brown of the Bocas Lit Fest, Prof Baz Dreisinger and Anya Ayoung-Chee organised our Bocas Lit event, Voices from Inside.

My role is to be there, in the middle of all the excitement, facilitating what I can. This is the way successful projects work.

No one person can make anything good happen in this world again. It takes an army of goodwill to succeed. Once again, I marvel at the quality of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest. We are so lucky to have such a well-organised literary event that showcases Caribbean literature and affords us the opportunity to connect with internationally acclaimed writers.

The NGC Bocas Lit Fest made human rights its theme this year.

I had the privilege to serve on a panel discussion entitled Crime and Punishment with Justice Gillian Lucky and Baz while Francesca Hawkins served as facilitator.

It was the best panel discussion I have ever participated in thanks to Francesca’s admirable work as facilitator.

Chief Justice Ivor Archie attended the session and added to the discussion. These are the types of discussions we need to better inform the public about the issues that plague this country in terms of criminal justice.

Through discussions and workshops, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest offers opportunities for young writers to develop their confidence and their skills. There are so few publishing opportunities for Caribbean writers these days, but the Caribbean writers have opportunities through Bocas to be published through their literary competitions.

The NGC Bocas Lit Fest is not a stuffy, esoteric, literary event.

There are readings that satisfy the yearning for intellectual stimulation, but there are events like Open Mike and Spoken Word that embrace the grassroots. The NGC Bocas Lit Fest tackles issues, promotes literature and makes Trinidad and Tobago proud.

Thanks, to the Bocas Lit Fest, the Caribbean, which is still struggling in terms of its publication needs, is on the international literary map.

It truly is a remarkable accomplishment.