Tuesday, 3rd June 2014 (North Side, Anguilla) — In the quiet solitude that I utilise for writing in my humble abode, I am inspired to compose words on the recently held Anguilla Lit Fest 2014. I also want to share some thoughts of island life and our celebrations honouring the living and the dearly departed.
Earlier in the month of May, I found myself returning to Anguilla just in time for our third annual literary jollification. The week before the event started I arrived home on island and got to work cleaning the house and unpacking suitcases after a three and a half months stay overseas visiting family and friends in the USA. I was excited and ready for the festival, especially as I was one of the featured speakers representing the “Voice of Anguilla”. However, I didn’t know what else the universe had in store for me, nor the additional role that I would play for this year’s Lit Fest as well as with other organisations in our Caribbean community.
May 2014 has as well brought us many passages and celebrations of life. We’ve honoured persons who have passed on or were a part of our lives, and those who are presently still alive. During the middle of last month, I departed Seattle, Washington, after having grieved the loss of a close relative, my mother’s youngest brother, Uncle Mac (otherwise known as Mills McDaniel Simons), and two long-time family friends. One friend of my family (Dr Edward J. McDade whom I’d known since my youth) was a next-door neighbour and a retired dentist just like my dad. The other friend (Mr Charles Edward ‘Phil’ Phillips) had served in the United States Air Force as did my father and we’d been acquainted with him for nearly as many years.
When I arrived home on Anguilla, I received news of more loved ones who had passed. The first was upon arrival at Blowing Point when I was told Daddy Tucker’s brother (Uncle Sugar otherwise known as lighthouse keeper Donald Mackenzie Lloyd) had ceased to breathe that very afternoon on my return to island. Then I heard Auntie Cladge (Mrs Eudora Clarabell Webster George) had departed. Her death was accompanied with news of the passing of centenarian Charlie Gumbs. As well came the passages of Ship’s Galley restaurant chef and owner, Norita Hughes, Carty and Dan from Guyana whose surname I do not recall. Last, but not least, was the great author and poet Maya Angelou whom I heard speak many years ago at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
So it has been an intense month receiving death announcements for eight persons, whom I’ve been connected to in one way or another, that have now departed earth. Some of the celebrations of their lives, I was able to attend. Others, I did not go to because of prior commitments or merely the lack of desire to be present at yet one more funeral service. Even so, I honoured each person with prayers for the peaceful passing of their souls and shared fond memories of them with family and friends.
Celebrating life and the living
We must remember to celebrate life, the living and our creative selves each and everyday that we have the opportunity to be given the gift of being alive. Don’t wait until it’s too late and a loved one has passed to honour her or him. We need to seize every chance that comes our way to design our own life celebrations and to allow the creative spirit inside of us to come forth.
Scheduling annual celebratory events or special occasions
Some of the events that I attended during the month of May, which we recognise as joyous celebratory occasions, included the Anguilla Lit Fest Voices of Our Nation Presentation in honour of The Holy Piby (the work of Anguillian Robert Athyli Rogers) held on Saturday night, 24th May, at Flavours Restaurant in La Vue Hotel & Conference Centre; Her Majesty’s Prison Literacy Workshop Closing Ceremony held on Tuesday afternoon, 27th May; and Native Sons Production of the fourth annual Culturally Yours Awards Presentation held at CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa on Saturday morning, 31st May.
May seems to be the month when we’ve celebrated our heritage of the literary arts along with spiritual leadership and cultural contributions at each of these venues. All of the organised events impressed me with the good works that many folks have done collectively and individually. Whether it was for the cause of the Anguilla Revolution and our nation’s freedom from a tri-part state connection with St Kitts and Nevis, or an inmate’s reflection on his serving time for alleged crimes committed, everyone’s contribution was quite impressive.
I was very much inspired by the aspiring youthful poets who are unfortunately locked behind closed walls at HM Prison. My words of encouragement to each young man were to keep on writing poetry and short stories as a way of expressing himself, his experiences as well as his inner most feelings. Writing is a form of therapy that I use for myself and it’s one of the creative arts that inspire me to greater heights.
Positive outcomes of our celebrations
When we hold celebrations of this sort, we create positive outcomes that we may not have even imagined. Networking connections are made amongst various individuals that can propel us forward in the work that we are doing, or motivate us with initiatives that we have dreamed of creating to benefit ourselves and our communities.
The uplifting influence that the Anguilla Lit Fest has had on so many writers is amazing. At this year’s festival of the literary arts, I learnt of the significant impact that our literary jollification has had on distinguished guests and delegates who attended from the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas and St Croix. The educational administrators at UVI spoke of wanting to make it a requirement that their faculty attend the Anguilla Lit Fest. They are even planning to use our literary festival as a role model to organise a similar celebration of their own in the US Virgin Islands.
Imagine Anguilla having such a noteworthy impact in the Caribbean that our event is the impetus for other islands in the region to design their own literary jollifications. Can you perceive how we on this tiny flat piece of rock, the northern most of the Leeward Islands, have helped to change the world or at least the area in which we live?
This is definitely one of the very positive outcomes that our efforts to promote the literary arts have had on persons who attended Anguilla’s Lit Fest for the past three years. Our numbers in terms of participants may seem insignificantly small, yet the effectiveness in our impacting other countries regionally to create similar events is huge.
Gifts received from participating in our celebrations
As for myself, I cannot believe the gifts that I personally have received from participating in our literary jollification for the third year in a row. The rewards for me have been tremendous. Not only have I learned to hone my skill of writing over the past year by having regularly published articles printed in The Anguillian newspaper, but following my passion has paid off with other dividends. I’ve now expanded my writer’s repertoire from being a delegate in the Anguilla Lit Fest 2012, to serving as a committee member and liaison for an internationally acclaimed author for the Anguilla Lit Fest 2013 and, most recently, to being a featured speaker of Anguilla’s literary voice and Master of Ceremonies for the Anguilla Lit Fest 2014.
Not to mention that my social media presence on Facebook allowed me to connect with RasTakura, a Reggae artiste and performance (or dub) poet from Jamaica, who was one of the persons chosen to speak at the Lit Fest’s Rise & Shine Breakfast Presentation held at Paradise Cove on Saturday morning, 24th May 2014. Now that in my eyes is a major achievement!
I am truly honoured and amazed to have my God-given writing talents recognised publically within our island’s community. The accomplishments that have risen out of my pursuit for the passion of creative writing are unbelievable. Such recognition shows me that if I follow my dreams, anything is possible. Many things can happen to expand our world of opportunities if we are brave and bold enough to share ourselves with others.
Continuing to celebrate our literary traditions
Now I recognise that after Anguilla’s third consecutive Lit Fest, we still have a way to go with what we have envisioned this literary festival to be. Yet we have come a long way in just three short years. I certainly hope that we are able to maintain the momentum and to continue to hold on to this dynamic event, producing it annually through the collaborative efforts of the volunteers of the Anguilla Lit Fest Committee, Anguilla Tourist Board Staff, and the various local sponsors who have joined us in this endeavour.
May be it wll become globally recognised as an important event to attend that we’ll even garner international sponsorship from arts councils or publishers of literature in the larger developed countries across the globe. That is my wish and the intention I set for our greater success.
It would be remiss of us not to continue from year to year having these exciting literary arts celebrations, or jollifications, as we have so aptly named them. I look forward in the future to more of our local and regionally young, middle aged or older writers and artistes participating in the Anguilla Lit Fest. We need our calypsonians, young poets, and students of all ages, to join in for the presentations and performances showcased. More importantly, we certainly don’t want the Anguilla Lit Fest to fall by the wayside, as did the Anguilla Jazz Festival after many years of hard work put in by the musicians and organisers of this melodious event.
Save the dates for the next Anguilla Lit Fest
You won’t want to miss the line up of authors, writers, editors, and publicists who will be scheduled for next year’s Anguilla Lit Fest. So save the dates and mark your calendars for Thursday, 21st May to Sunday, 24th May 2015. For future details, please visit the Anguilla Tourist Board website, www.ivistanguilla.com. View photos and highlights of this year’s literary festival on the Anguilla Lit Fest Group pages at www.facebook.com/anguillalitfest. You may even want to join some of the writing and poetry groups on Facebook’s social media network, such as the Anguilla Under Ground Poetry Club, Caribbean Griots Speak, Caribbean Writers, Writers & Artistes, and Yasus Afari.
Encouraging our children and young people to write
We need to encourage all of our children and young people, as well as adults, to read, write and share their stories, poems, verses and musical talents. Reading, writing, talking and singing are ways that help us express our inner most selves, heal the broken spirit, utilise our imaginations and celebrate our creative talents. They are tools that push us to examine and change who we are and who we wish to be.
As I have frequently said, we must be the instruments of change that we envision and do what we can to move ourselves and our nation forward. May God’s divine grace continue to inspire us to read, write, sing, verse and dub more often!
Kay M. Ferguson is a Lit Fest inspired writer and social commentator, and an author of many written and spoken words. With her gifts of writing and editing, she aspires to encourage everyone to pick up pen and paper, tablet, mobile phone or computer and create your own word sounds. To link with Kay, you can e-mail her at anguillawriter@gmail.com. Send an e-message via www.facebook.com/kaymferguson or tweet @kaykayferguson.
