Plans are currently being finalized for the hosting of the third annual Anguilla Lit Fest: A Literary jollification from May 22 to 25, at the Paradise Cove Resort.
This year’s distinguished panel of authors includes: ); Bob Shacochis, 2014 Pulitzer Prize Nominee and National Book Award winner (The Woman who Lost her Soul); Bernice McFadden, award-winning author from Brooklyn, New York (Gathering of Waters (2012), Nowhere is a Place (2013); Mr. Edward Lewis, author, philanthropist and co-founder and publisher emeritus of Essence Magazine (Man from Essence) Richard Williams, author of Black and White: The Way I See It and father of tennis greats, Venus and Serena Williams; Montague Kobbe (Night of the Rambler); and Lauren Francis-Sharma (Till the Well Runs Dry); Poets, Ras Takura and A-dZiko Simba of Jamaica; and Ijahnyah Christian, Anguillian poet, author and cultural biographer of the Athlyi Rogers Study Centre in Ethiopia.
Also appearing at this year’s Festival will be Publishing panelists, including David Daley, Editor-in-chief, Salon.com ; Yona Deshommes, Senior Publicity Manager of Atria Books/Simon & Shuster; Johanna Ingalls, Managing Editor, Akashic; Audrey Edwards, award-winning journalist, author and former editor of Essence magazine; and Rochelle Ward of House of Nehesi Publishers in St. Maarten.
Anguilla’s literary voice will be heard through the presentations of a number of local authors, poets and literary performers, including award-winning playwright and dramatist, Felix Fleming, author, poet and playwright, Marcel Fahie, educator and author, Mr Vivien Vanterpool, reigning Miss Anguilla 2013/2014, Amethyst Davis, Lit-Fest inspired writer and social commentator, Kay Ferguson, author, playwright and poet, Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs, and champions of the newest Anguilla children’s book by Actress Annie Potts (Kemarley of Anguilla), Trudy Nixon and Renukah Harrigan, as well as many other writers and performance poets from across the island. All books of the featured guest authors, poets and publishers will be available for purchase on site.
A highlight of this year’s Lit Fest will be the celebration of the author of The Holy Piby, Mr Robert Athyli Rogers, whose work, known as the Black Man’s Bible of the Rastafarian Religion, has been acclaimed as one of the more important literary works of the 20th century.
A special presentation in his honour will take place on the evening of Saturday May 24th, 2014 at the La Vue Conference Centre, where the keynote speaker will be Empress Ijahnyah Christian, Anguillian poet, author and cultural biographer of the Athlyi Rogers Study Centre in Ethiopia. In Addis Ababa, Ms Christian represents the Caribbean Rastafari Organisation as Liaison to the African Union, and is also the Rastafari representative on the executive committee of the Caribbean Pan-African Network.
In speaking of the sacred publication, Empress Ijahnya notes, “The Holy Piby was written by an Anguillian man named Athlyi Rogers who was an ancestor on my mother’s side and who hailed from North Side. The Piby was first published in New Jersey in 1924. It was also known as the Blackman’s Bible, and so threatened American society that it became a banned book that found its way to the diamond mines of Kimberly, South Africa and impacted strongly on the workers there. Robert Hill, the most well known of the Garvey scholars in the USA, has argued that the Holy Piby is one of two books that provide “the actual interpretative basis of Rastafari ideology”. This is why Nik Douglas in the 1981-1985 Review of the Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society entitled his short piece on Shepherd Athlyi Rogers, “The Anguillian Roots of Rastafari”. It is said that Rogers influenced Garvey’s thinking about the God of Ethiopia seen through the spectacles of Ethiopia. Rogers may not have been an Ethiopianist but he had certainly rejected the Euro-Christian imagery of Western socialization for as a child I can recall my grandmother talking about Athlyi Rogers and laughing at his saying that heaven was like Brimigen Bottom, one of the few green areas in Anguilla.”
Registration is now open for Lit Fest 2014 at the offices of the Anguilla Tourist Board, and on-line at www.ivisitanguilla.com . A registration fee of US$150.00 includes a welcome cocktail party, breakfast and lunch presentations, special sessions with the authors and fun-filled evening soirees. A special Residents’ rate of US$100.00 is being extended exclusively through the Anguilla Tourist Board (ID required), while one-day passes are also available for US$85.00 each day.
The Anguilla Lit Fest Committee extends heartfelt thanks to its many sponsors who have come forward in the true spirit of jollification to support the literary event. Sponsors include the Ministry of Social Development, the Anguilla Tourist Board, the Anguilla Social Security Board, Anguilla Library Service, Paradise Cove Resort & Conference Centre, Cuisinart Golf Resort & Spa, Ce Blue Beach Resort and Villas, Cap Juluca Resort, Villa Modena, La Vue Conference Centre, Irie Life, LIME Anguilla, Arian Brokers, Benjamine Group of Companies, Anguilla Masonry Products, Jim’s Construction Services, Merchants’ Market and Tropical Distributors.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
