BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ISLAND XPRESSIONS (IX) on Sunday (Apr. 28) will host a poetry show dubbed ‘An Evening of Caribbean Expressions’ at Ma Pau on Port Zante, starting at 6:00 p.m.
As gathered by this media house, the event, which is part of the Caribbean Poetry Project, is being funded by the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus in St. Kitts and Nevis, the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), Cambridge University and the Commonwealth Education Trust.
On the following two days (Apr. 29 and 30) after the show, the Caribbean Poetry Project workshops for teachers, organised with assistance from the Ministry of Education, will take place at the Ocean Terrace Inn.
Reportedly, workshops have been conducted in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada.
The UWI Cave Hill Campus delegation will be led by the Caribbean Poetry Project Coordinator, Dr. Sandra Robinson, and the workshop facilitators include Professor Mark McWatt, Dr. Phillip Nanton and Samuel Soyer.
Performers expected on the upcoming IX-organised event are Prof. McWatt, Dr. Nanton, Jihan Williams, Stephen ‘LOV’ Smith, Loughlin Tatem, Jonelle Irish, Kimi-Lee Knight, P. Clayton Huggins, Elise Harry, James Z. Galloway, Mario Williams and Alphonso Henry.
SKNVibes recently interviewed the founder of Island Xpressions, Samal Duggins, who highlighted that IX was invited to host the event.
Asked what it is like to have been given such an invitation, he responded: “Well, this opportunity speaks volume to the impact that Island Xpressions has made in poetry to the fact that they would come to us to put on this show based on the kind of institutions that they are. They are reputable institutions and for them to feel confident to say, ‘You know what, we think will be way better at doing this than us,’ that speaks volume.”
Duggins further expressed his sense of pride that the educational institutes had made the approach.
“So I’m proud of that…and just the opportunity to collaborate with universities. These types of institutions one has to be happy because that was part of my objective with Island Xpressions to take it to another level every time. And now we will have university professors and regional poets appearing at this event.”
“It’s a blessing. It’s just another step forward,” he added.
Duggins explained that the event is “free because, realistically, it is the universities’ show. We are just hired to put the show together”.
As it relates to those who should attend the event, he pointed out that there would be poetry to suite all ages.
“Well, we want to see everybody coming out from all age groups because there will be poets in attendance who cater to all age groups of people. We want to have the usual Island Xpressions family, of course, because that’s what we’ve built and that’s what we’re about. Wet welcome everybody. It’s a Sunday afternoon, come on out with your family and enjoy some good poetry.”
Duggins explained that the event would not only be about reading poems.
“What they wanted to do is to have the best so far of all the islands and I think the approach will bring that to life because what we’ll be doing is showing how poetry itself transcends through different forms of art. So we’ll have poetry with dance and poetry through life in different ways. It won’t just be reading of poetry.”
