Earl Lovelace, far right, at the HLSC College
where he read his works before a packed house [GIS photo]

Noted Caribbean Author Visits The BVI

A distinguished Caribbean novelist, Earl Lovelace of Trinidad and Tobago, treated residents of the BVI to a reading from some of his works recently. He was invited to perform a reading at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College Monday night, having come off an engagement in St. Thomas and St. Croix, where he attended the Humanities Conference put on by the University of the Virgin Islands. Mr. Lovelace has published five novels to date, the latest being "Salt" in 1997. His first novel, "While Gods Are Falling", won a prize in Trinidad and Tobago in 1965. The other novels are "Wine of Astonishment", "The School Master" and "The Dragon Can't Dance". Speaking to a group at the Community College on Monday evening, Mr. Lovelace focussed on the need for persons to not only see ourselves as ordinary people, but to understand that our forbearers were really ordinary people. "While they were African, they were Africans stripped of rank and one way of our having more respect for each other, if you want, is to understand where we have come from." He said where we have come from is not simply African Kings and Queens but ordinary African people. "If we have that perspective as we relate to ourselves, then it means we would have more respect for each other, we would have a base from which to begin to create a new society," the writer told the audience.

During his visit, he also spoke to students of the BVI High School on Tortola and the Bregado Flax Educational Centre on Virgin Gorda. He addressed the students principally about the value of literature and the value of reading and told them that it is in literature that we find the thoughts, philosophy and history and the place where we see ourselves reflected. "Literature holds up a mirror to ourselves, it's like the saying that we require a mirror to see ourselves...and unless a people see themselves, see the mirrors of themselves, so to speak, then they don't know who they are and literature provides that mirror," Mr. Lovelace commented. He said films do provide this mirror as well and it is necessary to develop these art forms, films, literature, radio shows etc. He told the students they should not see literature as a burden, but that it should be enjoyed and see that in the process of enjoying it, they would discover themselves, as it were. The Caribbean writer admitted that his is not a very popular profession, but made a case for more writers anyway. He said the region needs more writers. "Somebody has to tell your story and you have to tell it, because if you don't tell it, somebody else will say whatever they want to say about you." He muses that part of the problem is that there is not a whole lot of reading and writing activity these days.

Mr. Lovelace said writing is not magical, it demands a lot of hard work, an understanding of the place and a wealth of knowledge. He said it also demands a lot of patience. The qualifications of a writer? He said firstly, one has to write, be it about yourself or the society. Then, it would be necessary to send the manuscript abroad for publication, which is what generally determines whether one is a writer or not - the degree to which people respond to what you do and how much you believe in it yourself. As a playwright and essayist, his repertoire also includes a book of stories and a book of plays and is one of the pre-eminent literary figures in the Caribbean. Among his many honours and awards are the 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize for his novel "Salt", the Independence Literary Award for "While Gods Are Falling", a Guggenheim Fellowship and Chaconia Gold Medal - the second highest national award in Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Lovelace taught at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad for about 10 years. He now teaches one semester a year at the Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington D.C, but spends the rest of his time at home or travelling. In terms of the future for Earl Lovelace, he intends to continue writing. He is now working on a novel. "Also I am increasingly interested in film...there's an interesting process involved in that which involves financing for the film, distributing it and so on," he told The Island Sun. He said he would be very interested in developing a collaborative effort with investors in the British Virgin Islands or elsewhere who are interested in seeing his works on film.