A stellar line-up of poets are scheduled for this yr’s staging of the Jamaican Poets Nomadic College and School Tour scheduled to start Tuesday, October 25.
Conceptualiser Malachi Smith shared the vision of the event which is slated to run for 3 weeks.
“The tour was launched in 2017 to offer opportunities for Jamaican poets to read and share with students, while showing the positive role of poetry and its role as a tool of empowerment. It goals to also empower, while showing them how poetry could be utilized in conflict resolutions and their personal growth,” said Smith in a release.
In line with Smith, the official launch will happen on the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in St Andrew on October 25. The event is in partnership with the Poetry Society of Jamaica.
The tour may also be partnering with the Department of Literature in English to host a free poetry workshop on the Mona campus for college kids, faculty, and most people.
Dr Amina Blackwood-Meeks will present on storytelling and stage presentation. Poet Cherry Natural will present on dub poetry and poet Ann Margaret Lim will present on other genres.
Other poets include Dr Opal Palmer-Adisa, Amina Blackwood-Meeks, Cherry Natural, Tomlin Ellis, Ann Margaret-Lim, Curtis Myrie, Judith Falloon-Reid, Fabian Thomas, Smart Wurdz, Christine Neil-Wright, Antonia Valaire, Howard Hendricks, Ras Jaja, Marcus Harrison, Garfield GG Gouldbourne, Anord Sichinsambwe, Amaziyah The Great, Alan Parish, Dawitt St Aubyn, Dusty, Charlie Bobus, and the youngest of all, Courtney Greaves aka Mini Miss Lou, a multi-gold medallist winner within the annual Jamaica Cultural Development Commission competitions.
As a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the event needed to be postponed for the last two years.
Through the years, the tour has made stops at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mico University College, Northern Caribbean College, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Bethlehem Teacher’s College, Kingston Technical High School, Campion College, Mount Alvernia High School, Cornwall College, Munroe College, St Elizabeth Technical High School, the YWCA School in Spanish Town, Spanish Town High, Ocho Rios High School, Bishop Gibson High School, Glenmuir High School, Mona High School, White Marl and Iris Gelly Primary schools, JYTC Auditorium, (students from six Corporate Area high schools were bussed to this facility including St Hugh’s, Norman Manley, Pembroke Hall, Meadowbrook), Bookophilia, Church on the Rock, and one public reading in Montego Bay.
This yr’s event is slated to shut on Thursday, November 10.
