Well, daahlings, The place to be last weekend, was not the North Coast, but the South Coast for the annual Calabash International Literary Festival, In Treasure Beach, St, Elizabeth, as the place was cooking and then some!
We are talking a treasure trove of fabulousness here and nothing but!, as the literati, glitterati, and the paparazzi were all out for the Caribbean’s Premiere Literary Festival and it made for one spectacular shindig, here as we are talking Art, Fashion, fab-Food; high-glam; the Literary World’s A-Listers; leading fashionistas; the Bold and the Beautiful and naturally, the young and Restless – As they were all out to celebrate Literaria and dovecakes, how!
Dears, the brainchild of the talented and celebrated Author, Colin Channer; Poet Kwame Dawes, and Producer, the fab Justine Henzel; the Calabash International Literary Festival, had its inaugural staging in 2001 and grew as an annual event, then evolved into a biennial popular event, that saw its staging canceled in 2019 and 2020, due to the Covid pandemic.
Well, the Festival returned to its home, at Jakes, in Treasure Beach, with star-studded cast, for its 2023 staging, May 26th to the 28th, and luvs it was a blow-out, as starved as the Literary Crowd was for the event, its return was the only Buzz in town, and as it turned out, across the Globe, as people jetted in from every-which-where for a Look-in or just to be counted among those who did, and Dears, it made for the Mother of All To-Dos.
Dears, this was the Literary Festival’s 15th staging despite the Festival being 22 chronological years old. And not sure what the organizers plan, Apart from a great literary showcase and lineup, but the Fans and Supporters treated the event like it was a Debutante, and this was her coming-of-age party, and they made it rock. staging. A staging shy of its Sweet-Sixteen birthday staging and luvs, how!!
Dears, with a history of being able to snazz the best of the Literary world for the Festival, with such greats as: Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Jamaica Kincaid, Colum McCann,[8][9] Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, Junot Diaz, Michael Ondaatje, Elizabeth Alexander, Russell Banks, Edwidge Danticat, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Caryl Phillips, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Chigozie Obioma, Tishani Doshi, Mervyn Morris, Kei Miller, Marlon James, Eleanor Catton, Evan Jones among Others, having attended as headliners, yall know, this year’s offerings would have been no less a star-dripping event.
And so it was, for this year’s staging the lineup boasted near 30-Celebrity authors, with Jamaica’s Poet Laureate Olive Senior, the celebrated Kei Miller; Linton Kwesi Johnson; Curdella Forbes; Kwame Dawes; Padma Lakshmi; Maisy Card; David Chariandy Ingrid Pursuad; and Jonathan Escoffery; being some of the headliners.
So you know we are talking haute and fun literature here, and then some.
And set against the backdrop of the azure of the Caribbean, the appeal of Jakes; with live music; art and artisans market; and a taste of Jamaica, just always a nod away, we are talking transcendental here and then some. And with Hollywood celebrities in the crowd rubbing shoulders with attendees and Authors, you all know the Festival was cooking.
Kudos to Sally Henzell and her Team, T’was a smasheroni of the fabbest Literary Order!
Our Photographers Millicent Lynch and Dollis Campbell. Captured some of those out and about at the Literary Festival.
