Kwame Dawes (left) performs with Colin Channer during the launch of the Calabash festival at Red Bones Caf? on Thursday, March 15. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Plans for the seventh Calabash International Literary Festival were announced at Red Bones the Blues Cafe on Thursday evening, along with a peek at some of the poets being groomed through the festival's workshops and an appeal for more voluntary contributions.

The festival takes place from Friday, May 25, to Sunday, May 27, at Jakes in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth.

The festival's programming director Kwame Dawes, who co-hosted the launch along with Calabash founder and artistic director Colin Channer, pointed out that "the recognition around the world for Calabash has grown significantly. We are hosting the Commonwealth Writer's Prize this year", to applause from those gathered at the Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, restaurant and nightspot.

"They came, spied on us for two years, then approached us. We are very excited about the international implications," Dawes said.

The announcement of the 'Best First Book' and 'Best Overall Book' prizes will be made on the closing Sunday afternoon of Calabash 2007, after regional winners in the respective categories open and close the literary offerings on the previous day.

The festival opens on Friday night with Who Killed Bob Marley, a one-man show by Roger Guenveur Smith, and closes on Sunday afternoon with a musical exploration of the 1977 albums Exodus and 96 Degrees In The Shade.

Marketing Opportunity

David Shields, deputy director of tourism, pointed out that "the event is bigger than anything we can do in promoting Jamaica ... We have found this to be an important marketing opportunity to project the positives of Jamaica ... It opens up the unknown areas, the south coast, to the world and showcases the diversity that Jamaica has to offer.

"In terms of numbers, a small event, but a very important event for Jamaica," Shields said.

Tutor for the Poetry Intensive workshops currently being conducted by Calabash, Gregory Pardlo, anchored brief readings by persons currently in the classes. Sonja Harris read Rings For Her Toes and Cape Coast Blues, while Natalie Corthesy read Monique, First Born and August Morning, Pardlo delivering Chapel Avenue Main Effect and Antebellum, among others.

Voluntary contribution

Despite appeals for voluntary contributions over the years, there have not been many, and Channer pointed out that "the people who can least afford it are most likely to make a voluntary contribution to Calabash".

He said that an admission fee to the festival, which has always been open to the public, is not the solution, as "when you start charging you defeat the purpose", as it locks out those who then cannot get the opportunity "to get up-close and personal to the art".

Spirit of giving

Dawes pointed out that a large part of the appeal for the writers, who generally command high appearance fees, who read at Calabash without charging is that it is free and that it shows the spirit of giving. "That spirit, we hope, is reciprocal," he said.

Writer Beverly East said, "when I came to Jamaica to do my novel I was not sure what I was doing." Then she was involved in the Calabash workshops in 2003 with help from Elizabeth Nunes and that changed. She encouraged all to "start putting away your money from now" to make a donation, Channer saying that East wrote a cheque to Calabash for US$5,000.

And the two pointed out tha they are the public faces of the festival, "Calabash is run by Justine Henzell, Jon DaCosta and Carlene Samuels".

The launch ended with Billy Mystic and Steve Golding doing Bunny Wailer's Battering Down Sentence and Peter Tosh's Equal Rights and Justice, respectively, Mystic handing his guitar over to Dawes to play and sing Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry.