‘Godmother’ of Caribbean literature, <PERSON>, made honorary fellow of Royal Society of Literature · Global Voices
The Royal Society of Literature's elected Honorary Fellows 2020. <PERSON>, founder of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, is in the bottom left-hand corner. Screenshot taken from the Royal Society of Literature's website.
For the last 10 years, <PERSON> has been expanding the scope and reach of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest (named for its title sponsor, the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago), now widely considered the Caribbean's premier literary festival, but she's been a reader all her life. Her passion for the region's literature has now earned her an honorary fellowship in the Royal Society of Literature (RSL), which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year.
She first learned about the RSL's intention to make her an honorary fellow back in August, and the plan was for her to travel to the UK for the ceremony in October. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything: London is currently on a Tier 2 (high coronavirus risk category) lockdown, and Trinidad and Tobago's borders remain closed.
Still, she was invited — as new fellows are each year — to select an eminent writer's pen with which to sign her name in a roll book that dates back to 1820. Her choices included <PERSON>, <PERSON>, <PERSON> and <PERSON>.
<PERSON>, founder of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest. Image courtesy the festival, used with permission.
Whenever she makes it to London to sign the register, she plans to use Levy's. “She's a woman, she had a deep connection to the Caribbean, and I met her when she was a judge for the Saga Prize,” she tells me in a telephone interview. The now-defunct Saga Prize was a literary award started by actress <PERSON> to celebrate new, British-born, Black writers.
The significance of the honorary RSL fellowship is not lost on <PERSON>. 941
“It's an enormous thing,” she says, “particularly for someone working outside of the metropolis, and working in a way that some may consider peripheral, in Caribbean literature.”
It can be argued, however, that Caribbean literature is also huge — and <PERSON> has been an integral part of that journey. <PERSON> is clear about the fact that the recognition does not belong to her alone, but to the festival's many sponsors, and the dedicated team of people who help make the festival a success each year. “This RSL Fellowship is also an honour for Caribbean literature and for the NGC Bocas Lit Fest,” she explains. “They can't ignore us anymore. Caribbean writers are winning prizes, they're getting book deals, and many of those writers give the festival some of the credit for it.”
Pointing out that <PERSON> novel “Love After Love” has just been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and <PERSON> “The Mermaid of Black Conch,” for the Costa Novel Award, that <PERSON> has signed a book deal with <PERSON>, and that <PERSON> “One Year of Ugly” has been optioned by Netflix, <PERSON> says that <PERSON>’ seminars, workshops and master classes have helped create this new generation of regional writers — and build a marketplace to give their writing somewhere to go. Some have even taken to calling themselves “Bocas writers,” because the festival helped them hone their craft.
Authors <PERSON> (left) and <PERSON> (right) chat at the 2014 NGC Bocas Lit Fest. Photo courtesy the festival, used with permission.
“We've always been writing in the Caribbean,” she explains, “but before Bocas, no one had really created a space — at home — with the power to put regional writers on a pathway to the international publishing industry. Where else would you get the likes of <PERSON>, <PERSON>, <PERSON> or <PERSON> to read your stories and give feedback on them?”
Established writers benefit too, as there are always international agents, academics and publishers present at the festival. Accomplished novelists, most of whom are based abroad, get the opportunity to come back home and interact with Caribbean audiences, and the up-and-comers get to run shoulders with their heroes. “Publishing is a touchy-feely business,” <PERSON> says.
When she founded the festival a decade ago, however, did she envision it would reach this far? “We did our thing and people started to notice,” she tells Global Voices. 216