Talking Trees does close double

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Tomorrow, the Two Seasons Talking Trees Literary Fiesta will do a literary double take in a relatively short time, with its second staging in under a year. It debuted at the Two Seasons property in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, in May 2011, after it was announced that the Calabash International Literary Festival had been cancelled.

Two Seasons proprietor Christine Marrett explained that again the date has been affected by Calabash, as the festival should make a return in May as part of the Jamaica 50 slate of events. That put paid to meeting the annual staging mark and this weekend the Treasure Beach Culturefest 2012 is on, making for an opportune moment to hold Talking Trees again.

Plus, Marrett said, "We had such a good time working together, we said let us do it again this year."

Opportunities

Doing the double has made it possible for Nigerian short story writer Igoni Barrett, who has Jamaican connections, to make it to Jamaica, as his travel arrangements had fallen through last year, when he was also slated to read at Talking Trees. The Tourism Enhancement Fund provided the airfare. Also on the programme are poets Michael Abrahams, Malachi Smith, Easton Lee, Christine Craig, Monique Morrison, Fabian Thomas, and Kalilah Enriquez, folklorist Fern Luecke, novelists Melanie Schwapp and Roland Watson-Grant, and non-fiction writer Mark Thomas.

Aston Cooke will read from his play Jonkanoo Jamboree, written specifically for Jamaica 50. There is also a panel discussion, with writers Diane Brown, Jean Forbes, Kellie Magnus and Sharon Martini discussing 'Writing for Children', with Suzanne Francis-Brown as moderator.

Marrett's role in presenting the music inherent in the written and spoken word is carried out in tandem with a team, but there are the personal connections. With Christine Craig, she said "after we had Talking Trees last year I saw an article that she has poetry and she is someone that I know." In tracking down Craig, Marrett got in contact with Easton Lee.

So putting together the line-up was a matter of contacting persons, referrals, "who you know and who knows you".

It is almost a go-it-alone affair, with JAMCOPY providing some support. Marrett said that last year the Tourism Enhancement Fund provided some funding for the Treasure Beach events, but this year the property owners are having to come up with the money. "I put it down to marketing and having a good time," she said.

Talking Trees begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4:15 p.m., with the children's event closing two hours earlier.

While there has not been a striking increase in bookings at Two Seasons because of the literary event, Marrett points out that it is early days yet. "The thing is that you don't know in the future if people book because they have heard of Two Seasons through the fiesta. What I am learning is that people hear about it for a year before they come," Marrett said.

With the two stagings relatively close together, she said that for the first "I really had fun. It was an excellent day and this one should be even better."