Friday, November 20, 2009

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An Evening with Walcott By THEA RUTHERFORD ~ Guardian National Correspondent ~ thea@nasguard.com: A podium for Caribbean luminaries in literature and letters for the past four years, the Anatol Rodgers Memorial Lecture (ARML) series welcomes its first Nobel Prize Laureate, the region's own Derek Walcott. Walcott became the first West Indian writer to win the Nobel Prize in 1992 for his highly celebrated body of work. In doing so, Walcott helped to lift the region to heights beyond the idyllic box of sun, sand and sea. Now the poet, who has lived in various parts of the Caribbean and taught abroad for periods of time, but whose soul has never really left the region of his birth, comes to the country for two days of lectures at The College of The Bahamas. On Thursday, November 12, at 7 p.m., the ARML will present "Art, Politics and Caribbean Culture: An Evening with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott." The presentation, free and open to the public, will take place at the College's Performing Arts Centre on Poinciana Drive. The evening ends with a book signing. "It is truly an honor for the College to have Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott as our special guest for this year's Anatol Rodgers Memorial Lecture Series," said Chair of the School of English Studies, Dr. Marjorie Brooks-Jones. "One of the most prolific writers of our time, Walcott represents the very best of Caribbean artistry, intellectual achievement and culture. His visit to the College is a once in a lifetime opportunity not to be missed." Hailed for decades for their brilliance, Walcott's works often explore themes of identity, history, the landscape and social development. A playwright and an essayist, he is the author of The Prodigal (2005), Tiepolo's Hound (2000), Omeros (1992), Dream on Monkey Mountain (1967) and Ti-Jean and His Brothers (1957). Walcott, the founder of the Trinidad Theater Workshop, was born in St. Lucia in 1930. The ARML was established four years ago by the College's School of English Studies to provide opportunities for students, faculty, staff and the public to hear from the region's most talented and well-known writers. In 2005 Haitian American scholar and author Joanne Hyppolite gave the first presentation. Guyanese poet Fred D'Aguiar, Jamaican Scholar Dr. Carolyn Cooper and Ghanaian writer and Emmy Award winner Kwame Dawes spoke each subsequent year. Both D'Aguiar and Dawes held writing workshops for students and writers in addition to giving lectures. The series honors the late educator Anatol Rodgers, the first female and third Bahamian principal of the Government High School. Rodgers was an English teacher with a passion for the subject who touched the lives of generations of some of the country's outstanding citizens. Her family's support of the series enables the College to host internationally renowned scholars and writers each year. Dr. Brooks-Jones expressed the School's pleasure with the growth of the series, the offshoot of outreach efforts that began as early as 1979 when the College hosted Jamaican writer John Hearne. "I've always been struck by the desire, the wish of people, to listen to and to participate in conversation with scholars and artists, and that's really a service that we try to provide," said Brooks-Jones. On Friday, November 13, The Construction Seminar Group hosts Walcott at the Bahamas Culinary & Hospitality Management Lecture Theatre. There he will give the keynote address on the issue of "The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the Development of the Caribbean." The registration fee is $100. Saturday, November 7, 2009