News

PUTTING IMAGERY TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURE


I MET KAMAU (I was once chided for respectfully saying, “Mr Braithwaite”) in 1978. We were invited to participate in the fifth anniversary of the New Artist Movement in St Vincent/Grenadines. I remember the trepidation of delivering a talk, “Caribbean Theatre Today,” with him in the audience. He spoke afterwards, and for this milestone celebration I quote a passage from his address that has stayed with me over the years and has helped put imagery to my understanding of culture and now reparations:

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"WIDOWERED IMAGES"


A REVIEW OF KAMAU BRATHWAITE’S THE ZEA MEXICAN DIARY: 7 SEPTEMBER 1926-7 SEPTEMBER 1986 (THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS, 1993)

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…I LIIITE DISSS CANDLE INNN YOR NAME…


real/dreeem/innnbeeetweeen, yOr ridddimmms, rituals
an riiites continew to creeeAte =beee-tru-to-yOr-self=
sculptures innn deee lannnscape of our hed-space.


yOu, carrr-eee deee salt an liiite widinnn yOr soul-case!
 

…an from deee tiiime wen yOu put sum of her, onnn yOr 
tung, an yOu, swallowed her…yOr heart-strings strummm an
drummm an strummm an drummm an striiike into liiite
ev-reee-wear yOu walk goOod…

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Looking for Kamau

It seemed easy enough. Asked to provide a poem with links to Kamau, I immediately thought of one I had written around the same time I was studying his collection The Arrivants as an undergraduate at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies. My poem had been heavily influenced by him, to the point where I was a little uncomfortable with it. Anyway, I hadn’t looked at it, or seen the book in which it was written, in close to ten years. That should be enough time for me to give it a really dispassionate assessment, I figured.

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Kamau 85: Illustration by Lamair Nash; text from “Griot” by Icil Phillips.
Big, bright wave: KAMAU 85


ON MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015, Barbadian cultural icon Kamau Brathwaite turns 85.

For the past three months, ArtsEtc has been calling out to writers, artists, scholars, friends, admirers, and critics to join in a milestone celebration and exploration of this complex creative, his work and his influence. The response to this literary adventure, which we're calling KAMAU 85, has been illuminating and wide-scale—almost overwhelming: A big, bright wave, to quote from Kamau's own contribution.

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ArtsEtc launches reading programme

Read2Me!, ArtsEtc’s latest literary adventure, is up and running.

The six-week pilot programme sends writers and storytellers into schools and other venues to read to and engage with young people.

It began January 10, 2015, and forms part of a joint literacy outreach by Writers Ink and ArtsEtc, and is sponsored by Oxford University Press (OUP), Days Books and Apex Eye Clinic.

Three Barbadian primary schools (Milton Lynch, Grantley Prescod Memorial and St. Margaret’s) are the first to benefit along with Days Books serving as a fourth venue for the sessions.

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The 2014 ArtsEtc Independence Reading List
The 2014 IndyList

Once again, ArtsEtc is pleased to bring its annual Independence Reading List. The IndyList, as we like to call it, is a selection of 12 Barbadian books to make friends with over the coming year.

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The Carolle Bourne Prize
ArtsEtc sponsors prize in poet's name

ArtsEtc recently announced its sponsorship of the inaugural Carolle Bourne Prize—a new award for the 2014 National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA), and one that specifically targets innovation.

We are truly honoured to be doing something in Carolle’s name and excited to be teaming up with US-based Bajan suspense writer Ronald A. Williams to make it a reality.

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Bim LitFest in 30

Bim LitFest 2014 was an exciting and varied two-and-a-half days of celebrating the written word in Barbados. For those who missed it and those looking forward to the next one, here’s our Festival in 30—a round-up of events in 30 observations including highlights, hurdles, and other happenings.

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OPEN BOOK


Welcome to the series that started life in the run-up to Bim LitFest 2014 in which we ask assorted bibliophiles some of life’s truly tough questions such as: Who is your favourite author? What is your favourite book? What was the first book to REALLY capture your imagination and attention? How do you show words you love them?

Click on the names below to read some truly revealing responses.

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