Plans are currently being finalized for the hosting of the 2019 Anguilla Lit Fest: A Literary Jollification, which is scheduled to take place on the beautifully restored grounds of the Paradise Cove Resort, one of the leading boutique hotel properties in the Caribbean. The Festival will take place May 16-19, one week ahead of the busy Memorial Day travel weekend, thus offering interested participants from the USA the opportunity to get a jump-start on their holiday plans. Meanwhile, popular pre-Lit Fest programming which focuses on providing writing workshops for aspiring local writers and motivational sessions for students and troubled youth will take place from the 13-16 May.
“We are thankful that we are able to return to the lush, verdant grounds of Paradise Cove for a fully-constituted version of the LitFest, following the much-abbreviated version presented in 2018, as a result of the impact of Hurricane Irma. The LitFest team has put together an inspiring group of award-winning writers, poets and publishers who are sure to delight literary aficionados from across the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and host country, Anguilla,” noted Mr. Cardigan Connor, Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for Tourism, Sports, Youth and Culture. “LitFest 2019, which is widely regarded as one of the Caribbean’s premier literary festivals, will be presented in our beautiful national colors of orange, aqua- blue and white, as a fitting tribute to the 53rd anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution and a key element of the official program of activities commemorating the 2019 celebrations,” continued Mr. Connor. “I am pleased to offer my endorsement of this truly authentic, cultural experience that highlights one of the central tenets of our traditions, the Jollification, whilst, at the same time, preserving and celebrating our history through the development of the literary arts.”
“We are pleased to confirm Lit Fest 2019 will be headlined by the highly acclaimed novelist, essayist, activist and poet, the legendary Dame Alice Walker. Dame Alice Walker, who is best known for her blockbuster novel, The Color Purple, is rightfully recognized as the bastion of African-American literary royalty. She has just released her latest work, a book of poetry called Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart in New York on October 2, 2018,” said, Sherille Hughes, President of the Anguilla Literary Foundation. “Her appearance in Anguilla will take the form of a Maverick Luncheon presentation on her literary journey as she converses with her publicist and friend, Yona Deshommes, publicist extraordinaire with Atria Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing with the revolutionary poet and author. Participants will also have the opportunity to converse with Dame Walker throughout the period of the Festival.” continued Mrs. Hughes.
In Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart, Walker continues to explore the themes of feminism, loss, and redemption that colored her earlier work, but poetry allows Walker to adopt a different relationship to time. Rather than traveling back to the far past or suspending time, Walker’s poems, as urgent responses to the events of the past two years, are imbued with a sense of immediacy, intense engagement, and heightened hope. Presented in both English and Spanish, this timely collection of nearly seventy works bears witness to our troubled political moment while chronicling a life well-lived. From poems of self-inquiry to the simple beauty of baking frittatas, Walker offers a glimpse into her personal world of activism and hope, and encourages audiences to honor the divine within themselves.”
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
