Literary Night Friday.
AS part of Nobel Laureate Week, the public is invited to the Vieux Fort Nobel Laureate Literary Night at 6:30 p.m. on Friday 22 January at the National Skills Development Centre (NSDC), Vieux Fort.
The event will feature poetry, dance, drama, story-telling, folk drumming, art display, and the premiere of a poetry video of ModesteDownes’ epic poem, Phases.
The Vieux Fort Nobel Laureate Literary Night is part of an initiative undertaken by several Vieux Fort organizations and community leaders who recently met and agreed to collaboratively ensure that the town always hosts a well promoted and publicized activity to mark each of the national calendar events. The rationale is that the consistent hosting of such activities will help strengthen Vieux Fort as a community, instil confidence in the future of the town, and enable residents to take pride and ownership of their community.
According to the organizers, notwithstanding the value of this initiative, the gains do not serve just to Vieux Fort, because as the second or third most populous town, the custodian of some of the country’s most important and valuable assets (Hewanorra International and Port Vieux Fort, for example), and the commercial and industrial hub for the southern half of the island, a strong and viable Vieux Fort makes for a strong St. Lucia.
Besides various performances, the Vieux Fort Nobel Laureate Literary Night has a special treat in store. It will premiere a poetry video of Downes’ epic poem, Phases, from his award winning collection of the same name, that traces the history of Vieux Fort.
It is fitting that Vieux Fort is hosting a literary night for there appears to be a growing body of southern literature which no doubt is helping to raise the cultural and literary profile of the town. These works include Dr. Anderson Reynolds’ two books—Death by Fire (2001) and The Struggle For Survival: an historical, political, and socioeconomic perspective of St. Lucia (2003); Clive Sankardayal’s novel, The Brown Curtains (2006); Dr.JolienHarmsen’s three Books—A history of St. Lucia (2012), Rum Justice (2008), and Sugar, Slavery and Settlement: A social history of Vieux Fort St. Lucia, from the Amerindians to the present (1999); and ModesteDownes’ two collections of poetry, Phases (2005) and Theatre Of The Mind (2012).
The Vieux Fort Nobel Laureate Literary Night is free and open to the public. It will feature performances by primary and secondary school students, and by both young and unknown poets, and those with a national and international presence. For more information on the event, please call (454-3822, 712-8024) or email the Committee ([email protected], [email protected]).