- PHOTO BY CLAUDINE HOUSEN
Joan Andrea Hutchinson performs in the 'Tongues of Fire' segment on the second day of Calabash 05.
Tanya Batson-Savage and Mel Cooke, Freelance Writers
THE FIFTH Calabash International Literary Festival ended with the same tradition that had seen the faithful off from the sanctuary of Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth, on the last Sunday in May since 2001.
A word of prayer from June-Gaye Pringle, as the surf glinted in the very last strains of natural light.
And so, another year of Calabash, had ended. Another end of May weekend surfeit with readings providing a literary trip around the world. A weekend overflowing with poetry, fiction, sun, sea and sand. A weekend where the up and coming tried to make their mark in the open mic, while the established authors and poets tongued immortal words into the air.
It was the end of three days in which Calabash had become 'Laughabash' with Joan Andrea Hutchinson's defence of Rover in 'Don't Dis' during the 'Tongues of Fire' segment on Friday; 'Calabashment' with Saturday's tribute to Delroy Wilson and 'Hollerbash' with Colin Channer's tearful response to being read a praise-song for his vision in founding the festival by Kwame Dawes.
"Bad man no cry, seen," Channer said, sniffling. "But me a no bad man. An' bway, day really move me. Move me," he said, weeping and taking off his glasses.
There was also public acknowledgement for Blackie of Little Ochie, technician John DaCosta ("anything that is plugged in is a John thing"), Carlene Samuels and Carolyn Cooper, who have all given their services to Calabash since its inception.
Calabash continued to grow in both the audience and offerings. According to Colin Channer, artistic director and founder of the festival, attendance estimates ranged from 2,000 on Friday night, peeked at 4,000 on Saturday night then lowered to 2,500 on Sunday.
OPEN MICROPHONE SEGMENT
The festival began with CWW (Calabash Writers Workshop) Presents, which wound into the first issue of the open microphone segment. It was then time for one of the most popular segments of the event, when the lyrics of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Amiri Baraka combined for 'Two the Hard Way'.
Channer noted that 'Two the Hard Way', Russell Banks, 'The Great Non-American Novel' and 'Tongues of Fire' (all three on Saturday) were the most well-attended segments.
Interestingly, this year's 'Tongues of Fire' featured three Jamaicans, Mutabaruka, Joan Andrea Hutchinson and Staceyann Chin. Channer points to this as proof that the festival need not consider making concessions for Jamaican voices.
"We can't compromise standards for any reason," said Channer. "We shouldn't and we won't. The worst thing that we can do is to continue to support low standards for Jamaicans in anything. We shouldn't forget that Erna Brodber, Velma Pollard, Mervyn Morris, Yasus Afari, Eddie Baugh and Ralph Thompson are all living and working in Jamaica."
He added that "Calabash is only one festival and I would like to encourage other people to develop more literary festivals in Jamaica. All these festivals do not need to operate on the same level. We have chosen to have a world-class festival. Someone else can create a festival or festivals above or below where we have positioned ourselves ... Other venues exist. Everybody doesn't get to bat for the West Indies. Every writer will not get to read at Calabash. Only the best."
Yvonne Brewster, who read from her autobiography The Undertaker's Daughter, also spoke to a Jamaican presence.
Nonetheless, the word 'international' is clearly not merely present to add to the length of the festival's name and, as such, several of the authors hailed from many other countries. Saturday was quite symptomatic of this world-embracing tendency.
The day opened with Life Sentence
featuring memoirs from Jordan/ USA (Diana Abu-Jaber), Jamaica (Brewster), Mali (Manthia Diawara) and the USA (Stephanie Stokes).
However, the programme was not without hitches and that came in the segment 'Around the World in Three Poets'. Originally three poets were to pilot this journey around the world, but it was changed to a trip to India courtesy of Meena Alexander's Raw Silk.
Kwame Dawes, Programming Director of the festival, noted that Mark Doty of the United States had fallen ill while still on his home soil and Li-Young Lee had fallen ill on Saturday afternoon.
The international flavour was, however, kept up with The Great Non-American Novel, which featured Robert Antoni with a taste of Trinidad gutted from Carnival, while George Elliott Clarke of Canada thrilled with Whylah Falls and George and Rue. Francisco Goldman brought Guatemala on his tongue in The Divine Husband and the segment met an exquisite end via a piece of the United Kingdom, carrying Jamaica on her back, delivered by Andrea Levy's Small Island.
In years to come the international flavour of the festival should continue. According to Channer, the festival's wish list features writers culled from the world's best, including Carly Phillips, Maryse Conde, Edwidge Dandicat, Ishmael Reed, Colson Whitehead, Anita Desai, Isabel Allende, Jamaica Kincaid and Margaret Atwood.
With four permanent bathrooms builkt in 2003, a permanent stage with hi-tech facilities in 2004 and the entire festival area smoothed down in 2005, there has been major infrastrucural work over the years. Channer is 'satisfied with the festival's progress' but acknowledges that 'in some ways we have failed'.
"Our major failure has been our inability to effectively communicate the need for individual voluntary contributions. I would say that less than one per cent of the audience over the last five years has made a voluntary contribution to the festival."
This is despite pledge forms being handed out to most of the 300 people who attended the launch of this year's festival, held in April in Kingston. Only four were returned. Twenty forms were returned from about 200 handed out at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts during the publishing seminars held in early May. Sixty were returned on the final day of this year's Calabash - the highest number ever received in a single year.
All the Calabash events are free and open to the public.
And the level of sponsorship is appreciated, but it is not a matter of rolling in funding. "For sure we have more sponsorship now than wee did three years ago, and we are grateful for the sponsors who have always been with us and the ones who have recently come on board, but the truth is that we have managed to do all that we do with relatively small sums from a relatively small group of entities. Money management is one of the keys to our success. We spend money on the right things. Another key to our success is that we have a golden Rolodex, which allows us to call in favours from professional friends," Channer said.
With five years down and many more set to come, Channer is keeping his pages close to his chest on future developments, only saying that they are going to "Pay more attention to the workshops. The workshops are very important. They are perhaps the most important thing we do."
And there is an air of satisfaction in the summing up of year five. "Calabash 2005 was boomshotical. It was the best one we've ever had. But guess what? We are all going to say the same about Calabash 2006," Colin Channer said.
