Life after Calabash, Festivals seek to fill void

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

For 10 years, Calabash International Literary Festival provided a platform for the literary arts, but with its absence other events are being hosted to fill the void.

The Calabash International Literary Festival was first held in 2001 in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth. It had its final staging last year on its 10th anniversary, but this was not announced until earlier this year.

As someone who has been to every staging of the event, Leachim Semaj has responded with another event. This is the Asante Adonai Literary Lyme which will be held at Asante Adonai, Winefield, St Ann.

"My wife and I have been to all 10 Calabash. It's something that we believe in and enjoy immensely. For the last two years, we started designing an amphitheatre. The day we heard the announcement. I tried calling Colin Channer (organiser). We decided right away that we are going to have a 'post-calabash withdrawal-treatment session'. We immediately started planning something," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Booking rooms

Semaj said for years he stayed in the same room in Treasure Beach, as he booked his room for the following year by the end of the event. He said he would also book an extra room for a friend who has never been to the event.

He said Asante Adonai Literary Lyme is built from the Calabash model. However, "where we thought Calabash was weak, we are trying to improve it," Semaj said, noting that a children's package will be included in his event.

While he plans to make improvements, Semaj said this new festival will not fill the hole left by Calabash.

"We can't fill the gap. Calabash is an institution. Calabash lit a fire. We are just trying to take a spark out if it and build another fire. We are not trying to replace it. Even if Calabash was still happening, we would pick another time," Semaj said.

Also responding to the demise of Calabash, there will be the Talking Trees Fiesta, which will be held as part of the Treasure Beach Breadbasket Festival from May 27-29.

Great blow

Dr Christine Marrett, proprietor of Two Seasons Guest House, said "the cancellation of Calabash was a great blow to Treasure Beach and most of the south coast accommodations. A number of farmers and sellers of food will be impacted by that."

With Talking Trees Fiesta being held on the same weekend Calabash would usually be held, Marrett said she hopes it goes well.

However, "funding and sponsorship is still an issue that we are working on, even as we work out the details. We are committed to it," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

"We are looking forward to building on the vibe that Calabash has created. I learnt from Calabash and Calabash set a certain standard that I hope to live up to."

Meanwhile, dub poet Yasus Afari will be hosting another literary-based event, Jamaica Poetry Festival, on August 14 at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre. Although this is the first year, Afari said he has been conceptualising the event for years and the idea did not come as a result of Calabash's ending.

"I am hardly a reactionary. It's an idea I have had from before Poetry In Motion, from before Calabash. I had the idea from in the '90s," he said.

Initially, he said the idea was to have a dub-poetry festival in Jamaica, but he decided to expand the concept to include other types of poetry.

While it was not as a result of Calabash, Afari said the festival provided some inspiration.

"I was inspired by the success, impact and reception to Calabash. But on August 17, 2009, Mutabaruka pre-empted me on the launch of my CD, and talked about it. It should have been last year August, before the demise of Calabash," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

"The timing is such that it wasn't deliberate. It is not to substitute but, with the void that has been left, we can help to fill the void."

At Jamaica Poetry Festival, there will be poets like Mutabaruka, Royal African Soldiers, Joan Andrea Hutchinson, Michael Abrahams, Viv Morris Brown and Steppa, as well as other local and international poets. In addition to the poetry, there will be workshops, literary displays, music, food and a generally festive energy.

He said there are hopes to set up a poetry foundation that will own his event and get other stakeholders involved in the process.

But as something that has gained a large following and provided people with a different offering, Afari said Calabash will be missed as people have been robbed of that aspect of their menu.

Despite this, he said, similar events are being held to provide a platform for the literary arts.

"Spread the offering over different times of the year, with different flavours and spices that will sustain the interest. People will be inspired to step up to the plate," Afari said.