Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
Students at the Queen's School in St. Andrew expressing keen interest in these fictional works. Many Jamaican fictional works were on display at the recently-concluded Children's Expo.
'Fi Wi Ten Favourite Fiction' is a project of the National Library of Jamaica (NLJ).
The project is in keeping with the vision of the National Library to foster and promote the nation's knowledge of its history, heritage and information sources.
The project asked the public to select their 10 favourite works of Jamaican fiction from a list of 50 titles. These 50 titles were arrived at by asking library staff and personalities in the public and private sector to name their five favourite Jamaican fiction titles. The responses were collated to arrive at the 50. Flyers were prepared listing the 50 titles.
Between May 18 to June 12, the public was asked to make its selection from the list.
making the selection
Participants also had the option of making their selection online from the library's web page or to fax or mail their responses.
Publicity for the project was via NLJ staff appearances on television and a radio interview, as well as newspaper ads and a link from The Gleaner's Go-Jamaica site to the library's online poll.
The flyers with the list of 50 titles doubled as polling forms and were available at the parish libraries of the Jamaica Library Service and from the NLJ's web page. Flyers were also distributed at the Calabash Literary Festival and at the Sovereign Centre in Kingston.
The poll was in no way a scientific one. Its primary objective was to promote awareness of Jamaican fiction. Two hundred and sixty persons responded. Optional responses were age, gender and whether resident in Jamaica or overseas. Of those who responded to the optional questions, 19 were in the age group 12-17; 42 in the age group 18-25; 47 in the age group 26-39; 46 in the age group 40 - 55 and 11 in the age group 56 and over. More females than males responded to the optional question on gender.
The favourite 10 ( in alphabetical order) were:
1. The Cloud with the Silver Lining
by C. Everard Palmer
2. A Cow Called Boy
by C. Everard Palmer
3. The Duppy
by Anthony Winkler
4. Escape to Last Man's
Peak
by Jean D'Costa
5. The Harder They Come
by Michael Thelwell
6. Hurricane
by Andrew Salkey
7. The Lunatic
by Anthony Winkler
8. My Father Sun Sun Johnson
by C. Everard Palmer
9. Sprat Morrison
by Jean D'Costa
10. Waiting in Vain
by Colin Channer.
Of the 10 favourites, six are children's books and three of those are by the same author. Although the polling sought to identify the favourite 10, it may be useful to note that the next 10 favourites (in alphabetical order) were:
11. Banana Bottom
| by Claude McKay |
| 12. | Brother Man |
| by Roger Mais |
| 13. | Children of Sisyphus |
by Orlando Patterson
14. The Hills were Joyful Together
by Roger Mais
15. New Day
by V. S. Reid 16. The Painted Canoe
by Anthony Winkler
17. Passing Through
by Colin Channer
18. River Woman
| by Donna Hemans |
| 19. | Sixty Five |
| by V. S. Reid |
| 20. | Summer Lightning and |
| Other Stories |
by Olive Senior.
The above is food for thought for school and public librarians, for teachers of literature and most importantly, as a reading list for all who would wish to advance their reading and knowledge of Jamaican fiction.
One interesting outcome was that the public was given room on the polling form to include its favourite book if it had not been included in the list of 50. The book most often added was Going Home to Teach by Anthony Winkler. (This book would not have appeared on the 50 as it is a work of non-fiction.)
reviewing the titles
The next step in advancing the objectives of this project will be reviews of each of the titles for The Sunday Gleaner and the development of information packages around the favourite titles for permanent placement on www.nlj.org.jm.
Readers should note that the National Library is a reference library so the books on this list cannot be borrowed from the NLJ, but can be read in the library. It is very likely that most of these can be found at parish libraries and at book stores.
