The Nature Island Book Fair & Literary Festival was held in Dominica from August 8 – 10, 2008 at the UWI Open campus with special guest
St. Lucia’s Nobel laureate, poet & playwright, Derek Walcott.
Below is an audio extract that includes an opening address from the Chairman of the Reunion committee Hubert Charles
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica Mr Roosevelt Skerrit
and the first reading of the event is provided by Dr Lennox Honey Church who reviews the work of Jean Rhys.
The audio starts off by expressing the need for the festival
“………..reunion celebrations which is of major significance to Dominicans and our friends that we thought that an event of this type that speaks to the cultural and psyche of the Caribbean people what makes us who we are would give us a grounding in the celebration of reunion and coming together”
The speaker then introduced/welcomed the Chairman of the Reunion committee Hubert Charles.
Mr Charles said
“…………We focus attention on culture. Simply put ladies and gentleman our experience in this field suggests that in the fields of language dance drama and certainly in terms of compostion and coral music we have nothing to be ashamed of in terms of the contribution over the last 30 years. Indeed our products have been world class”
The next part of this audio is an address from the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica Mr Roosevelt Skerrit
“……. This evening event is also a landmark activity of the reunion committee drawing on the literary resources of Dominica and also from our friends from the region because in fact they are part of us”
“…… I am hoping that not only those of us who are here but the whole of the country can take time off to come to the book fair and literary fesitval and make their own contribution”
“….. and though the reunion activities started on a slow pace but as time goes by it has been becoming even more exciting and there have been more persons participating in events that which are planned by the reunion committee. And one cannot doubt the fact that as a result of the reunion activities we have seen an elevation and improvement in the village festivals and feasts across Dominica and we will see the drawn up participation of a wide cross section of dominicans in this festival. and these are things under cultural heritage and traidtions of dominica we must not let go away we must ensure that we harness it in the moment so we can pass it on to the generations to come….”
The final audio is a reading from Dr Lennox Honey Church who “kicked off” the event giving an honorary review on the work of Jean Rhys that has been taken from the book
“Caribbean dispatches beyond the tourist dream”
“….. she (Jane Rhys) is widely regarded as one of the best women novelist of the 20th century and her books have been reprinted in many languages
Her stories of luckless women taking advantage of by unreliable men have been made into films, television dramas and radio plays.”
Audio Source : With thanks to Albert and Tempie
http://domwriters.ning.com/profile/ALBERTANDTEMPIE
Click to play audio
