St Mary Literary Festival yields first book of poems, prose

A year after the successful inauguration of the St Mary Literary Festival, organiser Paul Ward has published a first book of a collection of the poetry and prose that were presented at the April 2024 launch in Port Maria, St Mary.

The book, St Mary Lit Fest 2024 Collected Writing, features a beautifully designed cover, courtesy of Anya Gloudon, which captures the Cabarita island off the coast of Port Maria, in the background, and a fishing boat on a beautiful, sandy beach.

The cover defies the adage that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, as the cover totally reflects the quality of the works compiled by Ward for the publication.

The book represents the maiden publication for several of the young writers, with the festival being blessed with an age range of 12 to 80 years old. Ward was able to strike a balance by somehow getting works by some well-known Jamaican writers included in the book, including Mervyn Morris, Michael Reckord, Marguerite Anderson, and Kwame McPherson.

Published Author certificates were presented to the first-timers, one of whom was 13-year-old Oracabessa High School student, Kaylee Yee-Singh, who read her poem, Jamaica Beauty Queen, at the book launch last Friday at the Port Maria Civic Centre.

“The experience was great, it really felt great,” Kaylee told The Gleaner after the launch. Kaylee, who is in grade eight, said she has been writing since she was attending primary school.

However, apart from the obvious feather that the above-mentioned experienced writers placed in Ward’s cap, the event received a further boost with a thumbs-up from British Educational Consultant, Lord Tony Sewell, author of Garvey’s Children: The Legacy of Marcus Garvey, Black Success and several other books.

Sewell, who was guest speaker at the book launch, said he was impressed by the quality of work and the range that was included in the book.

He noted that there were no boys present and acknowledged that there is still an issue in getting boys to write, when it comes to prose and poetry. He suggested the boys might be putting their effort towards music, but said they should still be encouraged to write and seek to get published.

Sewell, who taught at Knox College in Clarendon some years ago, suggested that English language teachers exhibit the works of their students on classrooms walls as a way of encouraging them.

And despite initially expressing disappointment at the small turnout at the book launch, considering that 150 attended the festival last year, Ward was nevertheless pleased with the milestone reached.

“I think it was okay, quite relaxed. We had four students and three adults reading their works,” he told The Gleaner. “It was a really good mixture of writers, 48 writers from 12 years old up to 80 plus. It’s made up of poems and prose, some fiction, some non-fiction, some powerful kind of political statements.”

Ward said about a third of the writings are in Jamaican language.

Tashana Earl, who is part of the organising committee that worked with Ward on the project, was even more pleased.

“It was wonderful, really wonderful,” Earl said. “It was very intimate and when each person started their reading, we felt at home. It just felt like who were supposed to be there were there and everybody played their role. It felt right.”

She said the high school students whose works have been published in the book have been immortalised at a young age.

“This is something that they will have for as long as they live and even beyond. They’re the first set of writers for this festival; it’s history!”

Earl commended Ward for doing “a truly wonderful job”.

Published authors were each presented with a copy of the book, so too the guest speaker, Lord Sewell.

A second launch was set to be held at Hope Gardens in St Andrew yesterday afternoon.

editorial@gleanerjm.com