Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Members of the audience at the 2005 staging of the Calabash International Literary Festival. - Claudine Housen/Staff Photographer

Next Sunday between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., under a tent beside the sea in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth, the winners of a literary prize of no mean order will be announced on the last day of the 2007 Calabash International Literary Festival.

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize winners for Best First Book and Best Book, carrying prize money of 10,000 and 5,000 respectively, will be announced.

This, after seven of the eight contenders in the categories have read at Calabash the previous day, the three Best First Book regional winners going in the morning and the four Best Book hopefuls reading in the evening.

Maxine Case (All We Have Left Unsaid), DY Bechard (Vandal Love) and Andrew O'Connor (Tuvalu) will read their Best First Book Award regional winners. The other writer in that category is Hisham Matar (In The Country of Men).

Naeem Murr (The Perfect Man), Shaun Johnson (The Native Commissioner) David Adams Richards (The Friends of Meager Fortune) and Lloyd Jones (Mister Pip) are the regional winners in the Best Book Award.

Founder and artistic director of Calabash, Colin Channer, said "A representative of the Commonwealth Foundation in London contacted us to explore the idea of collaborating with them for the 2007 prize.

"Sounds like a good fit for all. It subsequently came up that a representative of the foundation had attended the festival before to observe," Channer continued. For him, it is confirmation that Calabash is "an exciting festival with high literary standards that takes place in a developing country to First World standards."

Channer said hosting the Commonwealth Writers' Prize "confirms some things we have always known" about the worth of doing the voluntary effort of putting on the festival. And for people who "doubted the validity of the festival ... this is what they need."

New strategy for prize

For the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, it is part of their strategy to appear younger and more relaxed, without letting their standards slip. He said that last year they partnered with the Commonwealth Games and "to go from the Games to a little festival in a fishing district in a remote part of Jamaica says a lot about the people and also the organisational capacity of Calabash," attributing that organisation to Justine Henzell.

Channer pointed to the scope of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, saying "It is the award with the widest global scope. It involves all the countries that were once colonies of Britain, except the United States."

There are no Jamaicans among the persons who will make the final readings on Saturday, before the winners are announced on Sunday. For Channer, who is also one of the judges, "I wouldn't say I am disappointed. The eight books are really, really good books."

He said that when there are more writers coming out of Jamaica, then naturally, there will be more contenders, and also that Kei Miller was shortlisted for the Canada and the Caribbean segment. "That was significant," Channer said. He also pointed out that some time ago Kwame Dawes won Best First Book for Canada and the Caribbean, but had to return it as he holds a Ghanian passport. Olive Senior was a winner, so "we always in deh".

Before they read at Calabash, though, the authors will be participating in Jamaican life as, along with the judges, they come into the island tomorrow. Among their activities will be participation in Labour Day efforts. "Calabash is only one part. They will be seeing Jamaica and participating in Jamaica," Channer said.