George Lamming, Barbadian novelist and social critic will be this year’s honoured guest at Caribbean Reasonings, an annual event to laud outstanding Caribbean intellectuals.

The event, which will be held from June 5-7 at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, is being hosted by the UWI’s Centre for Caribbean Thought, UWI’s Department of Literatures in English and Africana Studies, Brown University.

Lamming, visiting scholar, Duke University, will be recognised during a seminar entitled “The Sovereignty of the Imagination: The Writings and Thought of George Lamming”.

Recognised among the giants of the post-war generation of Caribbean writers, he has published some six novels — In the Castle of My Skin; The Emigrants; Of Age and Innocence; Season of Adventure; Water with Berries; and Natives of My Person.

He is being recognised at a time when his book, In the Castle of My Skin, is marking its 15th Anniversary.

Lamming is also among the foremost critics within, and of, the Caribbean intellectual tradition. This aspect of his work is captured eloquently in his collection of essays, The Pleasures of Exile and his more recent collection, Coming Home.

Approximately 20 outstanding Caribbean intellectuals and Lamming scholars are expected to attend the seminar and present a variety of papers addressing the many dimensions of his work.

Special guest speaker at the opening of the seminar will be world-renowned Kenyan novelist, Ngugi wa Thiong’o.

Ngugi is famous for his many prize-winning novels associated with the struggle for national liberation and human rights in Africa, including A Grain of Wheat, The River Between, Petals of Blood and Matigari. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages and he has held visiting appointments at many universities including, Temple, Amherst, Smith and Yale. Wa Thiong’o is currently distinguished professor of comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine and director of its international centre for writing and translation.

Also in attendance will be last year’s honoured guest, Jamaica writer, critic and professor emeritus at Stanford University, Sylvia Wynter.