Literary Arts community welcomes NIFCA Book Fest

It’s been a few weeks since the NIFCA Book Fest and people are still talking about it.

Held on Saturday, November 4, in Golden Square Freedom Park, Bridgetown, the event brought authors and bibliophiles together in the same space for the showcase of books, author conversations with SunRokk, quizzes, and culinary and cocktail demonstrations. There was also a kids’ zone, live readings, and other fun activities.

So good was the response from the public that some of the 25 participants who sold books ranging from folklore to Sci-Fi, fiction, memoirs, financial literacy, travel, stories, children’s stories plus workbooks, would like the event to be held annually, becoming a staple on the National Cultural Foundation’s (NCF) calender of events.

For some of the Literary artists, the book fair wasn’t only about promoting and selling their books. They wanted other Barbadians to know they can hear their voices and see themselves in quality books written and published by Barbadians.

One of the participants, Stokely Murray, who is preparing to release his second book in the Charlie Hardears series said NIFCA Book Fest afforded him a chance to build community and network with authors and illustrators in the creative industry and for that he was “very grateful”. Being there also showed him that people want physical copies of books.

“Yes, I’m in broadcasting and I love what I do, but one of my dreams, and I was determined to make it a reality, was to have a piece of Barbadian literature as part of the literary landscape so that when my time has come and gone, a piece of me remains and a story was told.

“I think it is important that we can reflect our own. There are persons that want to see us. There are persons who are thirsty for good Barbadian stories to be told, good Barbadian songs, good Barbadian food and I think we underestimate the drive and the passion for Barbadians wanting things Barbadian. I think it’s a total misconception to think that Bajans don’t want our own,” said Murray, adding the quality of the published books and other items at the event display was high.

For Green Monkey Tales’ Tahjra Worrell who has children’s colouring and counting workbooks with culturally relevant material, the event allowed her to share her work with parents who want their young charges to see familiar things and learn about them as opposed to animals, fruits, and other items from other regions.

Cultural Officer – Literary Arts, Karra Price is pleased with the response from participants and the public. She said the literary artists with whom she spoke, made sales which was “extremely encouraging”.

“We have several requests from participants to not only have the event again but to make it some type of annual activity. The fact that we’re getting that request would suggest that the participants were extremely happy with the project.

“The other thing I took away from the NIFCA Book Fest came from the author interviews which were so well done by SunRokk. The audience learned a lot of information related to the publishing industry and what it takes, the networking and the support between authors.

“It definitely would be good to do something like this again, so that the general public and people who are interested in the literary arts could learn more about the literary scene, the publishing industry and what it takes to get your work out there.

“We had some internationally published authors featured and they spoke about their experiences which was a good opportunity for those book providers to see and to hear what was possible,” said Price.

During the year, as in previous years, the NCF held Writers’ Clinics on various topics. Price said the series has always been one of the most popular projects put on by the Literary Arts Desk.

“I think the move from in person to Zoom has had a lot to do with its popularity because of the accessibility. People tend to have a lot to do on weekends and regardless of where they are they can join. We’ve had people logging in from all over the world; as far as Africa to Canada, the USA and regionally, to take part. We have a good reach [they were able to track this] and that’s the good part about it being online.

“The response has been overwhelmingly supportive. Barbadians are writing. They’re eager to learn more. One of the sessions where the response was high was Writing a Memoir; people were really interested in learning about that.

“The November 11 session with internationally published author Dr. Cherie Jones where she spoke about useful habits for successful writers, was very well subscribed,” said Price.

The Literary Arts Desk also held Writer’s Circle where fledgling and emerging writers took some of their work to experts in the industry and received feedback. More of them have been scheduled. (PR)