Tobago gets a new festival of literary and oral traditions!
The first annual NGC Bocas Lit Fest Tobago is to take place on 28th and 29th March. Organizers of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, in collaboration with the Tobago Word Festival Committee and the Tobago Writers Guild, have created a 2-day event of readings, performance, workshops, spoken word and children’s storytelling.
The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, title sponsor of the Trinidad-based NGC Bocas Lit Fest, has announced its support for this new venture that comes at the same time that the Company announced its new sponsorship of the Bocas Children’s Festival, now to be known as the NGC Children’s Bocas Lit Fest.
The Tobago House of Assembly is also supporting the literary festival that kicks off with a full day of creative writing workshops for adults and children on Friday 28th March. Children from Tobago’s secondary schools will be led by author, former school principal and well-known carnival character performer of the Pierrot Grenade, Felix Edinborough, in a workshop on what is a good story and how to get it down.
Monique Roffey, winner of the 2013 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and an international teacher of creative writing, will lead a workshop for adults on “Your Life as Memoir: An introduction to Life Writing” while Professor Funso Aiyejina, UWI Professor and himself a prize-winning writer and Bocas Lit Fest Board member, will focus his workshop on “How to Write a Story” for budding adult writers. According to a spokesperson for the Tobago Writers Guild, “This is an exceptional opportunity at Tropical Pleasure, Plymouth, which Tobago writers do not want to miss. Refreshments included!”
Every year the month-long, nation-wide children’s storytelling caravan is launched in Tobago and this year is no exception. On Saturday 29th March, at the Lowlands Mall, a series of free events will run from 11am to 5pm, starting with storytelling for children aged 5-12 with Thelma Perkins at 11am.
A packed programme for adults follows on at midday and features readings by novelists and poets based in both Tobago and Trinidad, including Earl Lovelace and Monique Roffey, Deborah Moore Miggins, Laureen Phillip and many more who will also pay tribute to much admired Tobago poet, the late Eric Roach. The Tambrin Band, the Speech Band and other performers of the not-to-be-forgotten characters of the oral tradition, the Pierrot Grenade, the Midnight Robber and Paper Doll will be taking part.
The NGC Bocas Lit Fest Tobago rounds off on Saturday evening with a free Spoken Word Concert on the Esplanade in Scarborough at 8pm that brings together some of the finest Tobago and Trinidad performance poets for an entertaining and thought-provoking evening.
To register for adult writing workshops call: 625 8328 or E-mail: [email protected]
To register for the Children’s Storytelling Caravan: Call 222-7099 or E-mail: [email protected]