The project, launched at the Bocas Lit Fest literary festival in May, offered aspiring teen writers, illustrators, musicians and graphic designers from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Northern Ireland the opportunity to collaborate for six months to create and produce a print and multimedia online graphic novel.
Following a call in July for submissions from all three countries, over 140 applications were submitted from all three countries. After a careful review, sixteen teens were selected from Trinidad and Tobago, fifteen teens from Jamaica, and nine from Northern Ireland.
“I am very impressed with the high level and quality of creative and critical thinking from these teens. The diversity of the creative submissions demonstrated that young people [from all three countries] are attuned to and responsive to the concerns and challenges affecting our world and are actively thinking of ways to address them. I am confident that the final product will be a phenomenal body of creative work.” Melvina Hazard, Project Fusion Junction Lead, and Children’s Programme Manager, Bocas Lit Fest.
All successful applicants have already attended one virtual workshop. On Saturday 1 November, fifteen teens from T&T met for their first in-person workshop with Everard McBain, from GemGfx Animation Studios.
Creative Consultant and primary workshop facilitator for the project Everard McBain led the dynamic session, ‘From Premise to Protagonist’. The teens were engaged and articulate, offering intelligent and creative graphic novel story ideas about dystopian futures, worlds dealing with the fallout from improper use of AI and cybernetically augmented humans.
Pictured here are Caiden Francis, Alicel Ram, Amoy-Marie Lee-pow, Aijalon Best, Mikhaela Browne, Angela Daniel-Honoré, Neeval Moosai, Sabella Paul, Jessica Balroop, Ethan Phillip, Kaeda Ramnarine, Hailey Lakatoo, Amara Chadee, Naiesha Bhagaloo, and Maria Martinez from T&T with workshop facilitator and creative consultant for the project Everard McBain, at their first in-person session at National Library and Information System Authority – NALIS.
“Meeting the teens in person for the first time was an energising and fulfilling experience after months of planning and coordinating. I am impressed with the enthusiasm, creativity and commitment from our talented teens. I look forward to witnessing the development of their stories and the personal and creative connections they are already forming — not just locally but with their counterparts in Jamaica and Northern Ireland.” – Melvina Hazard, Project Fusion Junction Lead, and Children’s Programme Manager, Bocas Lit Fest.
Project Fusion Junction is a transnational project and initiative of Bocas Lit Fest, executed in partnership with Fighting Words NI and the Jamaica Book Festival, and sponsored by the British Council.
