2 months ago
22
The 2025 Calabash International Literary Festival, which will be staged May 23-25, in the idyllic Treasure Beach in St Elizabeth, had its stylish launch on Wednesday evening on the East Lawn of Devon House in St Andrew. And after a season of interesting readings, the question-and-answer session between author Zadie Smith and Carolyn Cooper, and greetings from the people who work hard to make Calabash happen, the organisers told invited guests some more of what they had come to hear.
Finally letting the proverbial puss out of the bag, they announced that for 2025, there will be all of four Booker Award-winning authors and Emmy Award-winning actress, Sheryl Lee Ralph. This was certainly no “lightas-in-the-air” or “buss-a-blank” kind of event; however, the applause and cheers that erupted were very loud and long.
“What do we have in store? I am barely giving you the highlights,” writer, filmmaker and producer, Tanya Batson-Savage told the excited audience. “Calabash is no stranger to award winners, but this year we have dipped into the literary firmament and pulled out four ... count them ... one, two, three, four.. Booker Award-winning writers. We are having Ian McEwan, Michael Ondaatje, our own Marlon James and Shehan Karunatilaka.”
Marlon James, who was present, was all smiles as his fans showed their enthusiasm when his name was called.
“I was discovered at Calabash ... so I am very loyal and I have very sentimental reasons for being there every year,” the popular James, who was always surrounded by fans, told The Gleaner.
He won the Booker Prize in 2015 for his work, A Brief History of Seven Killings. Shehan Karunatilaka won in 2022 for his second novel, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Ian McEwan won the prize in 1998 for the book, Amsterdam, and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient scooped the Booker prize in 1992.
Sharing that Calabash Festival is also a platform for emerging, as well as established writers, Batson-Savage informed that there will be categories for memoirs, poetry and fiction.
“And, in the memoir line up we have none other than the amazing Sheryl Lee Ralph,” Batson-Savage announced and one could almost hear drum roll through the shouts of approval. “And of course none of this would be possible without the amazing sponsors that make up Calabash.”
The biennial Calabash Festival, which had its first staging in 2001, having been founded by novelist Colin Channer, poet Kwame Dawes and producer Justine Henzell, takes pride in being “earthy, inspirational, daring and diverse”. A three-day celebration of the gathering of voices, it involves readings, storytelling and music, and it is totally free and open to the public, and thousands from across the globe converge in Treasure Beach to enjoy its offerings.
Justine Henzell, Miss Calabash, was short and to the point. “It is my great honour to say thank you. It is one of my favourite parts of the evening. We are going to meet in Treasure Beach in a few short weeks. Passion is the only price of entry, you just have to make it down. Knutsford Express will be having shuttles for everybody who have not pitched their tents on the beach as yet. We start on Friday evening, we end on Sunday evening. We are so simple. We are not all things to all people ... we are Calabash ...the greatest likkle festival in the greatest likkle district in the greatest likkle country in the world,” Henzell said.
With laughter in her voice, she stated that the team had to come up with a joke about the “four Bookers” and tagged James for this mission.
“Four Bookers meet on a beach, and the beach just happens to be Treasure Beach ... no better place. The fact that Michael Ondaatje, who is one of Canada’s most important authors, was born in Sri Lanka, and the other Booker, Shehan, is coming from Colombo, Sri Lanka, and they never even met before. And where are they meeting? In Treasure Beach, Jamaica. It’s the kind of thing that [makes] you expect the unexpected from Calabash and it’s one of the things that we treasure,” said a grateful Henzell, whose T-shirt, like those of the other members of the team, had two words, ‘Bless up’.
She told The Gleaner that this year, especially, it was all about being thankful. “Calabash would not exist without a lot of goodwill and a lot of blessings. You cannot do a festival that depends on sponsorships and grants without a lot of blessings. We are very aware of Treasure Beach coming back from Hurricane Beryl, and we are saying we are blessed. It was built back with love. And we want everybody at Calabash to appreciate where we have come a year later,” Henzell said.
English (US) ·