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Trinidad
and Tobago’s DR
Kris Rampersad, author of LiTTscapes
– Landscapes of Fiction from
Trinidad and Tobago will team up with icons of Antigua and Barbuda to
stage a literary tribute to the Antilles on Saturday (March 23, 2013) at the
museum in St John’s, Antigua.
Dr Rampersad,
whose book, LiTTscapes,
was launched as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of Trinidad and Tobago
last August, has undertaken a series of tributes called LiTTributes
to highlight the contributions and value of the creative sectors of the
Caribbean.
LiTTscapes
has been described as a groundbreaking
encyclopaedic yet coffee-table style compendium of
the lifestyles, landscapes, architecture, cultures, festivals and institutions
of the Caribbean and quintessential to the Caribbean diversification
agenda as a means of promoting sustainable development through the creative
sector in its presentation of history, politics, cultures and lifestyles,
by reviewers as head of the Guyana Prize for Literature and deputy vice
chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Al Creighton;
Poet Laureate of Port of Spain, PearlEintou Springer; former principal and
pro vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Dr Bhoe Tewarie
and former First Lady of Trinidad and Tobago DrJean Ramjohn Richards, among others.
Said Creighton: “Easy to read, LiTTscapes is a work of art, a
documentary, a travelogue, a critical work with visual and literary power. It
is a quite thorough artistic concept, a portrait and biography of the nation of
Trinidad and is attractively, neatly and effectively designed. It reflects a
considerable volume of reading, ranging from the dawn of Caribbean literature
(as early writings of Walter Raleigh, through to present including Nobel
laureates Derek Walcott and Sir Vidia Naipaul). Whatever one says no one book
can do, this one almost does.”
Rampersad explained: “The literary
tributes, called LiTTributes, celebrate the creative synergies between fiction,
the built and natural landscapes and the creative energies of writers, musicians,
dramatists, artists, architects and other creators.” She noted that the launch
of LiTTscapes was followed by the LiTTribute to the Republic in Trinidad and
Tobago in September 2012 and LiTTribute II - LiTTurgy to the Mainland in Guyana
in February 2013.
“The Antiguan event is being called
LiTTribute to the Antilles and will include presentations by Rampersad and
Antiguan writers and performers, including writers as Joy Lawrence, Joanne
Hillhouse and Floree Williams with support from the Historical and Archaeological
Society of Antigua and Barbuda which operates the museum, and Best of Books,
Antigua. It will feature readings and performances inspired by LiTTscapes,
which represents some 100 works of some 60 writers, including the Caribbean
Nobel laureates for literature, Derek Walcott and Sir Vidia Naipaul.”
She said: “LiTTributes are meant to make
both the creators and our communities aware and heighten appreciation of how we
may work in tandem for the benefit of our countries and our region. I am indeed
humbled and buoyed at the enthusiasm being showed throughout the region and
indeed the diaspora for these as already I also have interests expressed for
similar LiTTributes in North American and Europe from where a considerable
number of our fiction writers have functioned.
“LiTTscapes is a celebration of
ourselves – small islands whose creative energies have generated enormous waves
across the globe, as this LiTTribute to the Antilles will endorse. Antigua has
given us writers like Jamaica Kincaid and Joanne Hillhouse. Derek Walcott
titled his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, The Antilles – Fragments
of Epic Memory. This event is a celebration of that epic Antilles, not as
fragments, but for the wholeness of our aesthetics,” said Rampersad.
Rampersad said along similar lines of
the LiTTscapes celebrations, the Antigua/Barbuda event will feature the
Caribbean architectural alongside literary, visual and performance heritage.
Its staging at the museum building will recognise Antigua’s oldest heritage
building which is the former site of an indigeneous marketplace. Previous
events were staged at the historic Moray House in Guyana, Knowsley Building in
Port of Spain and White Hall, one of Port of Spain’s Magnificent Seven
edifices.
In Brief:
LiTTscapes:
Key Features
·
Full
colour, easy reading, coffee table-style
·
More
than 500 photographs of Trinidad and Tobago
·
Represents
some 100 works by more than 60 writers
·
Captures
intimate real life and fictional details of island life
·
Details
exciting literary moments, literary heritage walks & tours
·
Essential
companion on T&T for tourists, students, policy makers, academics, lay
readers
·
Totally
local effort to stimulate local creative industries
·
Encourage
literacy and creative activity
See: LiTTscapes album on Facebook:
About
the author – Kris Rampersad
For more than two decades Dr Kris
Rampersad has been actively involved in analysing, assessing, critiquing and
defining the development agenda for Caribbean societies.
She is a journalist and educator in
Caribbean literature, culture and heritage.
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