By Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance WriterLIKE SILVER fish in a recently opened though musty old book, the contemporary Jamaican fiction writer has found herself exposed to light. A perusal of bookshelves find many of them stocked with more Caribbean writers than in days of yore.
For years the notion has been that Jamaicans do not read assuming of course, that one ignores newspapers. The result has been that many local bookstores cater to the education sector, leaving those who want to read for leisure or something so frivolous as enlightenment to shake frustrated fists at bookshelves.
Because of the focus on 'educational' type books, the term literature has been able to keep authors such as Jean DaCosta, Vic Reid, and Olive Senior on the shelves and safe from ignominy. However, the concept of a Jamaican/ Caribbean popular fiction seemed to be an oxymoron, or, maybe, plainly moronic.
NO ATTICS
The reason is not quite clear. Maybe it is because the region has no attics in which to cloister these lunatics when the words 'fly up into dem head', so we cannot afford to encourage them. Maybe the prolific writings produced by writers such as V.S. Naipaul, George Lamming, Vic Reid, Olive Senior, Jean DaCosta, Sam Selvon and the like are so instrumental in shaping our identity that Caribbean writings cannot be divorced from the adjective 'literature'.
Maybe we simply don't take words casually enough, and therefore, do of the changing reading landscape. Lee points out that the company is willing to put a Caribbean collection in any store that has the space to allow for one.
She argues that Caribbean people have continuously hungered for literature that reflected them, even if they were not aware of the hunger. Companies such as Macmillan, through Macmillan Caribbean, have begun to tap into this. The Macmillan Caribbean Writers Series recently launched Anthony Winkler's The Annihilation of Fish and Other Stories, also at Redbones, and another Jamaican, Garfield Ellis, has also made his way into their cache.
OTHER WRITERS
MCW has a slew of other writers from the Caribbean. Gillard says that though the series has begun with established writers, it is the publishing house's aim to make it a "potting shed" for Caribbean writers. It is hard to speak about an increase in the prominence of alternative reading without prostrating some of the blame at the feet of the Calabash International Literary Festival, which may well be making the bookworm tradition fashionable, even if only for one weekend a year in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth. It is clear, however, that the influence of the international literary festival stretches well beyond that great weekend of celebrating literature at the end of May each year.
Its influence can be seen in the marriage of Calabash and Novelty Trading. The company now circulates books with the Calabash sticker on it. These books are from authors who have read at the festival.
Lee first encountered Caribbean literature while studying at university. Her first meeting was with V.S. Naipaul's A House For Mr. Biswas and her passion for Caribbean writing has not dwindled yet, as she argues that anyone not reading it is missing out. From her vantage point as distributor, Lee is quite aware of the change in the times.
"It (Caribbean writing) wasn't always sold and bought with the same vibe that it is today," she says. Lee points out that Channer outsells Danielle Steele and John Grisham on her shelves, while the Caribbean magazine Maco outstrips Architectural Digest. "I think we're seeing the beginning of a great Jamaican/Caribbean movement," she says.
Lee agrees with the importance of Calabash in creating this trend. Lee argues that regardless of how good Channer's works are his greatest contribution is Calabash, of which he is the founder and artistic director. "The greatest contribution Colin will have made in his life to the world is Calabash," she says.
Calabash has managed to work because it disrobes the literature presented from the illusion of boredom. The festival presents a variety of writing, even extending itself to travel writing this year.
However, Caribbean literature was not an ignored entity prior to the creation of the Caribbean Writers Series and Calabash. Publishing houses such as Peepal Press have poured forth an impressive body of work.
And so, it seems the publishing iron curtain has fallen. So one must ask, oh writer, where art thou? It is time to sharpen your pencils and get your laptops overhauled because there are worlds to write, dream and inscribe into the world's imagination.
not want to reduce our stories to the
bubblegum popularity.
Whatever the reason, the effect is that though the Caribbean of the 1950s, 1960s etc. have been well preserved in literature, the 1980s and 1990s can hardly be seen. That, however, may well be changing.
The launch of Colin Channer's collection of short and not-so-short stories Passing Through might be used as a marker of a change in things. The Kingston launch, which took place two weekends ago, saw an audience that filled and overflowed the Redbones Blues Café courtyard. While this does not mean that hundreds of people flocked the Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, event, it can be used as an indicator that it is time to take the business of books more seriously.
But buying books and, better yet, reading them, is a "middle-class pursuit" as pointed out by Nicholas Gillard a publisher with Macmillan Caribbean. Of course, in Jamaica reading might be even higher on the middle class ladder because of the price of books locally. If one can lament the cost of living, one can only groan at the cost of reading.
As Gillard states, however, Jamaica's literacy level should not be a hindrance to the creating of a thriving
reading public. Additionally, there is no need to limit readers of Caribbean works to the region, as the expatriate community provides a wider readership. Jamaica has latched on to such a huge chunk of the international imagination that our writings would be interest to many peoples. However, on the local level, lust for reading (which often also engenders a thirst for writing) must be generated early.
ALLOTTED SPACE
Local publishers have time and again lamented the space allotted in bookshops for Caribbean works, as local bookshelves often feature the latest romance, spy novel or suspense glaring inanely at the would-be reader. While these books have their place, they have a deficiency; they generally do not reflect us.
In the new mini-renaissance however, bookshelves like those of Bookland find sufficient space for Caribbean and African-American fiction. Bookland is owned by Novelty Trading, which also supplies stock to other local bookstores. What is interesting about Novelty is that they also supply books to pharmacies such as the Liguanea Drug and Garden and Manor Park Pharmacy.
Suzzanne Lee, co-managing director in charge of operations and distributions at Novelty Trading, is more than an advocate
of the changing reading landscape. Lee points out that the company is willing to put a Caribbean collection in any store that has the space to allow for one.
She argues that Caribbean people have continuously hungered for literature that reflected them, even if they were not aware of the hunger. Companies such as Macmillan, through Macmillan Caribbean, have begun to tap into this. The Macmillan Caribbean Writers Series recently launched Anthony Winkler's The Annihilation of Fish and Other Stories, also at Redbones, and another Jamaican, Garfield Ellis, has also made his way into their cache.
OTHER WRITERS
MCW has a slew of other writers from the Caribbean. Gillard says that though the series has begun with established writers, it is the publishing house's aim to make it a "potting shed" for Caribbean writers. It is hard to speak about an increase in the prominence of alternative reading without prostrating some of the blame at the feet of the Calabash International Literary Festival, which may well be making the bookworm tradition fashionable, even if only for one weekend a year in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth. It is clear, however, that the influence of the international literary festival stretches well beyond that great weekend of celebrating literature at the end of May each year.
Its influence can be seen in the marriage of Calabash and Novelty Trading. The company now circulates books with the Calabash sticker on it. These books are from authors who have read at the festival.
Lee first encountered Caribbean literature while studying at university. Her first meeting was with V.S. Naipaul's A House For Mr. Biswas and her passion for Caribbean writing has not dwindled yet, as she argues that anyone not reading it is missing out. From her vantage point as distributor, Lee is quite aware of the change in the times.
"It (Caribbean writing) wasn't always sold and bought with the same vibe that it is today," she says. Lee points out that Channer outsells Danielle Steele and John Grisham on her shelves, while the Caribbean magazine Maco outstrips Architectural Digest. "I think we're seeing the beginning of a great Jamaican/Caribbean movement," she says.
Lee agrees with the importance of Calabash in creating this trend. Lee argues that regardless of how good Channer's works are his greatest contribution is Calabash, of which he is the founder and artistic director. "The greatest contribution Colin will have made in his life to the world is Calabash," she says.
Calabash has managed to work because it disrobes the literature presented from the illusion of boredom. The festival presents a variety of writing, even extending itself to travel writing this year.
However, Caribbean literature was not an ignored entity prior to the creation of the Caribbean Writers Series and Calabash. Publishing houses such as Peepal Press have poured forth an impressive body of work.
And so, it seems the publishing iron curtain has fallen. So one must ask, oh writer, where art thou? It is time to sharpen your pencils and get your laptops overhauled because there are worlds to write, dream and inscribe into the world's imagination.
