The 9th Annual Calabash Literary Festival was successfully launched last night to grand applause and a unified sense of appreciation as we came so close to losing this precious event. Kwame Dawes began the festivities in high spirits thanking the sponsors and all who had a hand in making sure the festival continued.

The night’s events started with “Pepal Tree Presents . . . “ hosting three extremely talented poets immediately reminding us of the quality of performances we are going to be privy to for the rest of the weekend.

Then Edwidge Danticat mesmerized the audience with a story told by a mother to a daughter of what must never be forgotten. Junot Diaz made us laugh and touched our hearts all within 20 minutes. What incredible talent!

Next up was Melvin Van Peebles introducing his new film. Colin Channer interviewed Mr. Van Peebles previous to the screening and he entertained us with his life’s wisdom and antidotes to match his philosophies. We then got to sit back and enjoy the film. Innovative, creative, bold, are just a few descriptions that come to my mind. Absolutely fantastic!

By now it was well past my bedtime and I worked my way home. This, too, is a fun aspect of the festival. I ran into loads of Treasure Beach and South St. Elizabeth friends along the way, especially the younger folks getting ready to enjoy the Calabashment featuring Mutabaruka and Tarrus Riley. Eric, our webmaster, stayed until the end and told me the music was great! As a matter of fact, everyone told me the show was amazing! Sorry I didn’t have a cup of coffee and stay up for it.

It was Junot Diaz who summed up the events of the night and the festival best when he said, “Calabash is some incredible “stuff”, unlike anything else on earth. It is one of those great Caribbean moments that don’t happen enough.”

Sitting in the audience watching the authors on stage, with the moths favoring pixie dust flitting around them in the spotlight, the Caribbean Sea behind them, hearing and seeing the waves gently rolling over the rocks, and in the distance the lightening flashing beyond John Rocks Point, I for one, truly felt blessed.

And that was just the first night!

Check out the photos in the photo gallery

I made sure to get to the festival very early Saturday morning as I knew the tent would be packed with that morning line-up! I wasn't wrong.

First came Staceyann Chin. This was her 3rd appearance at the festival and, as usual, she was extremely entertaining, thought provoking and a bit controversial, all the qualities that make up this festival!

Then The Most Honorable Edwar Deaga, O.N. took the stage and read excerpts from his memoirs. Definitely interesting.

Anthony Winkler, who has entertained so many of us with his books, continued to entertain us with his story of "Greasy Legs" that had us holding our stomachs in from laughing so much.

What a morning!!

Then the stage was set for an interview conducted by Paul Holdengraber interviewing Pico Iyer. Absolutely riveting. They discussed the whole idea of "Where are you from" in a society where so many of us live in so many different places and how this transient lifestyle is changing the world to Mr. Iyer's experiences traveling with the Dalai Lama. One statement Pico Iyer said that I just had to write down as it hit home with me was, "Movement is only as good as the stillness that underwrites it." I am hanging this one up in my office! The interview was filled with loads of tidbits of wisdom. I will not soon forget this experience.

Then came one of my favorite parts of this festival, Open Mike. This is where anyone and everyone has a chance to get up on stage for 2 minutes and say their piece. Always entertaining and alwasy filled with surprises. Denise Hunt did a great job hosting this part of the festival.

The Generation Now section highlighted new authors on the scene. Joseph Boyden, Laura Fish, and Marlon James all read excerpts from their new books.

By this time I was ready for a break. Unfortunately, I missed the Life Sentence section and part of the Open Mike, but Delvin's jerk was calling out to me!

Check out Calabash Festival 09 in the photo gallery for more photos.

More to come . . .

Here is a continuation of my experiences at the Calabash Festival . . .

I arrived on Saturday evening in time to catch some of the Open Mike participants. This has really become one of my favorite parts of the festival. Never disappointed and always surprised.

Love in the time of Obama was an interesting discussion held with Linton Kwesi Johnson – Jamaica/UK, Helon Habila – Nigeria, Melvin Van Peebles – USA, hosted by Kwame Dawes. Hearing the point of views and observations from persons living in various parts of the world and of varied ages and experiences gave us a unique perspective on this subject matter.

The Bi-Textuals segment brought on three very talented writers including Geoffrey Philp who told a delightful story of Jesus coming to visit a boy and his mother; Terese Svoboda riveted our attention as she related a story told to her by her uncle of abuses within US Army prisons wrongly accusing and abusing Black prisoners and how Abu Ghraib made him confront his memories and experiences; Xu Xi told a tale of a marriage to a foreigner which held twists and turns and ended in sadness.

At this point I was, once again, ready for bedtime. However, I was determined to at least stay long enough to attend the beginning of Calabashment , a sound clash between Colin Channer and Mutabaruka. Boy am I glad I did! Colin started the bashment with some great old Reggae classics and then obviously with an angle to please the ladies started running old 70’s, 80’s and 90’s dance, disco and R&B hits. I think I scared our webmaster, Eric, a bit when I was singing every word to every song at the top of my lungs while dancing up a storm. I was far from alone in this. There was a large crowd and many others were doing the same as me. My biggest surprise was when I remembered all the steps to “the hustle”! Hmm, should I admit that on a public forum? What fun!! I limped my way home after 2 in the morning.

Even though I got to sleep long after my usual bedtime, there was no way I was going to miss the morning’s line-up. What woman around my age didn’t fall in love with Sidney Poitier in the movie To Sir With Love. And as any reader can tell you, the book is always better than the movie. So I was very much looking forward to hearing a reading of such a great book. I was awakened by a loud thunder clap, got up and saw the sky was overcast and it had started to rain. Perfect! A gray and rainy Sunday morning sitting back and enjoying four talented folks reading from a classic, the sea in the background and the rain gently falling on the tent. Alwyn Scott – Jamaica, Dr. Kingsley “Ragashanti” Stewart – Jamaica, Justine Henzell – Jamaica, and Kerstin Whittaker – Jamaica each bringing their own talents and personality to the pages made you feel you were there in the classroom with Mr. Braithwaite and the students. And just when I thought, “it doesn’t get any better than this”, my friend Karla brought out from her purse a big piece of her homemade lemon cake for me. Oh yeah, what a sweet morning!

Two the Hard Way was next. Marilyn Chin brought her vibrancy to the stage in reading poems of varied subject matters. Robert Pinsky also read several of his poems which were filled with vivid imagery which made you feel you were a part of what or where he was describing.

Next, I got some curried and garlic conch, brought it back to my seat and settled myself in for another great Open Mike session.

Lastly, always a favorite of the festival, Wayne Armond, Ibo Cooper, Steve Golding, and Seretse Small join up on stage and highlight a well known Jamaican music artist. This year, one of my personal favorite singers was highlighted, Beres Hammond. I found myself once again singing along to all the great Beres Hammond lyrics. I loved it when Wayne Armond said that if you were courting a woman all you needed to know was the lyrics to a few Beres tunes and you could get your girl as those lyrics were the best!

Ah, another fantastic festival. I think this one was even more cherished as we came close to losing it. Nuff ratings and big ups to all who made this possible. Justine Henzell, Kwame Dawes, Colin Channer and all the other many folks involved in the organization of this festival. Special thanks go to the sponsors as they made this dream a reality.

The Lomax Family Foundation
Jakes
Chase
Jamaica Tourist Board
Flow
Ocean Spray
National Housing Trust
Free the World
The US Embassy
American Airlines
MacMillan Publishing
Akashic Books
C Fonds

You can view the festival photos here or by the link in the Photo Gallery