Bocas Lit Fest Goes “To and Fro” at 2024 West Indian Conference @ The UWI

By Sarai Andrews

The 42nd Annual West Indian Literature Conference took place at U.W.I. St Augustine Wednesday October 9th to Saturday October 12th 2024.

The event saw many writers, literature teachers and literary lovers flocking to the campus. On Thursday 10th, Bocas Lit Fest facilitated a panel discussion with local authors of children’s books.  The event was attended by the children of various primary schools from around the country. 

Four published authors of published books for young readers were featured – Eleven year old Mishal Ali, 12 year old Jorel Ferguson, and adult writers Phillip Simon and Niques Francois. The authors spoke to the children on their processes to getting published and working with illustrators on their books.

When they took to the mic to read their own works the children lit up and were very attentive to the new stories they were hearing so much so that they didn’t seem to want the session to end.

In speaking with the teachers on whether they thought it was important to them that children read and write for recreational purposes, one teacher stated “Reading for fun is important because they get exposure to words.  Descriptive words that can be used in their creative writing.”

After being asked whether they felt this event was inspiring to children for them to read or write for fun one teacher answered that she had many young writers in attendance with her.

Another teacher shared that she thought events like these should be more widely and frequently available as it was their first time being invited and it had been fantastic for the children to be there.  She hoped to have her school invited to another event.

In conversation with some of the writers at this event on whether they thought the event was helpful to children, Phillip Simon responded “Yes it is.  I hear a lot from parents that these days children spend more time on their screens and though I personally don’t see anything bad with screen time per se, it is always nice to encourage children to read as it helps with their vocab and how to express themselves.”

Niques Francois went further to state that “Children can tell stories that are pertinent to their lives and it is always good to hear stories from the perspective of a child.  My passion is youth work and youth activism. Being around young people they inspire me all the time and they have brilliant and amazing ideas that sometimes get weeded out as you get older so writing young adult fiction for me helps to continue to increase that imagination for them so that when they read about people their age it helps inspire them.”

When asked why it is important to read and write recreationally, Francois stated “Of course. I try to encourage as many young people as I can to write even if they never publish anything just because getting your ideas down on paper helps you express yourself and understand how you think. It’s a form of self development so even if you never publish anything, still write.” Simon went on to say that he saw writing as therapeutic as it helps you explain yourself to other people if you decide to publish.  When he began writing he learned a lot about himself which is why he considers it so important.

As for whether these writers themselves saw writing and reading as important when they were school age they adamantly denied it.

Simon stated “I only wrote for assignments and only remember writing recreationally in my twenties.” Francois also stated that though her mother encouraged her to write she didn’t care for it at that age.  Which is why it is so important to encourage them to write.  She added that “It is important to hear from people their own ages, more so than hearing from adults.  While we are here to help and show support it is more important that they hear from people that look like them and have similar interests and experiences.

Melvina Hazard, Children’s Programme Manager at Bocas Lit Fest commented on the organisation’s ongoing mission to develop a nation of readers and writers

“Our ultimate and ambitious goal is that every person in the world will have a favourite Caribbean writer.  We’re going about this by starting from as early as possible through various programmes.  Our Family Reading Circle starts from introducing babies to the pleasure of reading for brain and creative stimulation.  Our Children’s Storytelling Caravan works with children to create their own stories, which we publish as an annual anthology crediting the children as writers. 

Events such as this one are part of our efforts to demonstrate to school children that reading is fun and inspiring- especially when they see children their own ages presenting their published works.”

If parents or school administrators are interested in attending events like these, please reach out to info@bocaslitfest.com or +1 868-222-7099.