Culture: Introducing Cervantes [To Jamaicans]

Author of the 2nd most translated book after the Bible, and considered by many to be the "father of the modern novel" Miguel de Cervantes is nevertheless largely unknown to Jamaicans. 

THE Embassy of Spain, in partnership with the Spanish-Jamaican Foundation and the Edna Manley School of Drama, present a dramatic play reading at Redbones Blues Cafe on Argyle Road in St Andrew, on Thursday. Start time is scheduled at 7:00 pm.

The event, which is free to the public, is entitled Cervantes Celebration and is part of the 400th anniversary celebration of the death of Spanish writer, who died in 1616 at age 68.

Directed by Pierre Lemaire, director of School of Drama at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Cervantes Celebration will feature Michael String Bean Nicholson, Jean Paul Menou, and Edna Manley College’s drama students.

Carmen Rives, chargé d’affaires — Embassy of Spain, said the aim of the occasion is to introduce Cervantes to the Jamaican public.

“His writings deal with every day challenges of the human experience.

Rives said she’s hoping the occasion will be a personal one and that a discussion segment will be held after the readings.

“It’s all about enjoying Cervantes,” she added.

Cervantes is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language. In addition to Don Quixote, his other works include Novelas ejemplares (Exemplary Novels), the Viaje al Parnaso (Journey to Parnassus), and Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda).

He was born September 29, 1547.

Literature: Bocas entries Open for 2017

The 2017 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the latest round of the region’s most prestigious literary award, is now open for entries. Sponsored by One Caribbean Media, the prize, now in its seventh year, includes a cash award of US$10,000 for the overall winner and US$3,000 each for two genre category winners.

With past winners including both eminent established authors and talented newcomers, the OCM Bocas Prize is coveted by Caribbean writers all over the world, who qualify by being of Caribbean birth or citizenship.

The cross-genre prize is judged in three categories: poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction. The 2017 Prize is open to books published in the calendar year 2016. The overall winner is selected from the three category winners.

Chairing the distinguished panel of Caribbean and international judges is the celebrated Jamaican literary scholar and poet Professor Edward Baugh, who is joined by ten other internationally based writers, academics, and publishing professionals.

There are two deadlines for submissions: 10 November, 2016, and 11 January, 2017, depending on the publication date of an eligible title.

In the 2016 round, the short fiction collection The Pain Tree by Olive Senior was the overall winner of the OCM Bocas Prize. Other winners in past years have included St. Lucian Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and Trinidadian novelist Earl Lovelace.

“This cross-genre prize lines up the best talents, old and new, allowing them to rub shoulders as no other prize does. We are pleased that each year we can signal to the reading public the very finest of what’s on offer from Caribbean writers and help in promoting the work of our wordsmiths, wherever they may live,” says Marina Salandy-Brown, founder and director of the Bocas Lit Fest, the NGO behind the Prize and three annual literary festivals in Trinidad and Tobago.

The 2017 NGC Bocas Lit Fest runs from 26 to 30 April, 2017, at the National Library and the adjacent Old Fire Station, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Title sponsor is the National Gas Company, lead sponsor is First Citizens, OCM is a main sponsor.

Books: Talent only Gives You One Good Book, A chat with writer Garfield Ellis

- FROM susumba.com; Tanya Batson-Savage

Garfield Ellis is possibly one of Jamaica’s best-kept secrets. So, at his reading at Bookophilia, on Hope Road in Kingston, from his latest novel The Angel’s Share (Akashic Books), it wasn’t that surprising when members of the audience queried whether he had any other books. 

Ellis is a reasonably prolific writer (not Kwame Dawes prolific - but then which writer is?) with four novels and a collection of short stories as well as several anthologized short stories to his credit. So while he hasn’t been hidden away, he has not been one of those writers buzzed about, though he should be.

His reading from The Angel’s Share which was shortlisted for the 2015 Una Marson Award is a novel about a father and son reconnecting as they travel across Jamaica, showed that Ellis continues to be a keen discerner of the hearts of boys and men, again presenting the beautifully flawed and textured characters found in For Nothing at All and Such as I Have both published by Macmillan Caribbean.

Like many of our other writers, Ellis left Jamaica’s shores to seek succour in the albeit cooler, but certainly greener pastures of Canada. This was the first time he was coming home in a few years, and his last major reading on the island was at the Calabash International Literary Festival in 2012.

“It’s good to be in Kingston. I haven’t been here in 3-4 years,” Ellis said to the small yet eager audience who had been quietly sating their literary appetites on his words. As soon as he finishes reading one passage he is urged to read another. But good things also come between the readings as Ellis talks about writing and his relationship with Jamaica.

“My friends tell me that after two weeks in Jamaica, you want to come back [to Canada] but obviously they haven’t been here during mango season,” Ellis said as listed mango among the things he has been happily gorging, on along with copious amounts of Red Stripe beer and jerk pork.

He explains, however, that his relationship with the island is deeper than these culinary delights.

“It’s Jamaica that feeds me, so I have to keep coming back,” Ellis says. revealing that most of his writing has taken place here. His next book, titled Land We Love, will be the first one that was largely written in Canada, although his eyes remain firmly trained on Jamaica.

He explains that Land We Love will be his first real look at violence in Jamaica has he has generally tried to steer clear of it.

“When you love the country, and you have a sensitivity, it’s very difficult to face,” Ellis said. Indeed when bursts of violence has appeared in his writing it has been sensitively treated. It’s often visceral while being deeply moving as the emotional carnage is usually a part of the package. 

Garfield Ellis

Ellis revealed that although he has found himself working in numerous nine-to-five jobs, his writing has been a consistent part of his life.

“It is the only thing that does not bore me, that I do every day and it does not bore me,” Ellis said. “Everything else, after 3-4 years it bores me, but writing feeds me.”

Of course, a major part of writing is learning to deal with rejection, especially, if like Ellis, you choose not to go the route of self-publishing.

He notes that even though he has written a lot, he doesn’t send his work to many publishers and the earlier version of The Angel’s Share had earned a 2-page rejection letter from the publisher. On reading that, he put the book aside for a long time then finally he realized what needed to be fixed and that’s when he understood what the publisher had been saying about the work. 

“The truth is that, a lot of times, the rejection makes sense if you can see what the publisher is saying,” Ellis said.

He clearly has no delusions about writing as he says Talent will only take you so far. 

“90% of what makes a novel is hard work,” Ellis said. “Talent only gives you one good book. You have to learn the rest.”