IT was a literary showcase of extraordinary proportions at the eighth Jamaica Poetry Festival (JPF) at Louise Bennett Garden Theatre in St Andrew on Sunday, August 12.
With a variety of spoken word performers celebrating Jamaican sensibility and culture, the event promoted by Sen YAcum Edutainment, Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), National Library of Jamaica and IRIE FM, provided an ideal setting for honouring accomplished poet/historian Jean “Binta” Breeze.
“I came out of England five to six years ago, and Yasus [Afari] refused to let me sit at home and daydream… I thank you (Yasus) for doing a wonderful job. Long may the festival live and thank you, Jamaica, for making my life a wonderful one,” Breeze graciously mused after receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to dub poetry.
She treated her audience to an interactive performance of Mad Woman, one of her most famous poems. founder/director Yasus Afari, basked in the success of JPF. He told the Jamaica Observer that the teamwork for this year's show is already being channelled for 2019.
“Being the eighth staging, this is a pivotal year which registered the longevity which the attendance here represent. I'm saying, it's a great success and I am thinking of the ninth staging of the festival which will be on August 11 2019. In continuing the tradition of honouring our cultural and literary icons, this, the third JPF (2018) Lifetime Achievement, was presented to Jean “Binta” Breeze, who received it with gratitude, humility and dignity,” said Yasus Afari.
He also expressed satisfaction with the free, family-friendly creative writing workshops which ran from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. It was led by Canadian-Jamaican writer, author and poet Shauntay Grant.
In his role as performer, Yasus Afari contributed to the poetic delight he dubbed The Feast of Poetree.
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