The Kingston Book Festival is On The Horizon: March 5 – 12, 2016

February 26th, 2016

Does your brain need refreshing after all the politics? I know mine does. I am feeling weary. What better way to indulge in mental relaxation and pleasure, then, than to participate in the Kingston Book Festival? The first public event, a “Love Affair With Literature,” will be on Sunday, March 6 (11:00 a.m. to 1:00 […]

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When Is a Joke Serious? A Long Bench Discussion on Comedy and Society

April 14th, 2015

“Tek serious ting mek laugh.”  Making light of a serious matter – turning it into a joke – is a tendency among Jamaicans. We explored the how and the why of this with two terrific Jamaican exponents of the art of laughter, Owen “Blakka” Ellis and Dr. Michael Abrahams, at a Sunday morning session headlined […]

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What is Love? Pamela Mordecai Subverting Us With Sonnets

December 2nd, 2014

It’s a particular delight when a Jamaican living abroad returns home for a visit…Especially when she has a book she has authored tucked under her arm. On November 22, a crowd of us – old friends, recent admirers, book lovers and the merely curious – gathered on the upper floor of Bookland, in New Kingston. […]

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A Way With Words

September 9th, 2014

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade played a masterful stroke today – International Literacy Day 2014. Its prosaic, business-like lobby was transformed – by words. Ignoring the hurried Monday lunchtime traffic outside, an audience of literature lovers, writers, government workers and a sprinkling of diplomats sat down and listened with great attention. This […]

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