THE annual Calabash International Literary Festival, amongst the largest in the Caribbean is cancelled for 2011 and beyond due in part to funding the over US$100,000 budget.

The organisers, however, are planning a 2012 literary event for Treasure Beach in celebration of Jamaican authors coinciding with Jamaica’s jubilee 50th independence celebration, but it won’t be Calabash, they explained.

It means that St Elizabeth won’t benefit from the economic and social multiplier effects that arise from the over 1,000 festival patrons gathered to hear local and international prize-winning authors including Nobel laureates.

The cancellation isn’t the result of a fallout between the core organisers nor had a major sponsor pulled but funding always remained a challenge, Kwame Dawes, programming director told the Observer at the press conference on Monday at Red Bones Blues Cafe in Kingston.

“It’s a combination of factors and I don’t think that funding has been a small part of that decision,” stated Dawes. “First, there is a feeling of closure that we have completed a festival that was successful, but second, the financial part has been a strain. Never being certain of the budget.”

The decision to cancel the festival started shortly after the 10th staging of the event in 2010. Then recently the trio held a retreat “and decided that it was the right decision to make”.

In 2009, the Calabash organisers initially announced the cancellation of the ninth staging of the festival due to a lack of government and corporate support. The event was held following a public outcry which resulted in government upping its sponsorship to some US$40,000 contributed by the Jamaica Tourist Board and the CHASE Fund. The organisers, however, needed to raise the shortfall. But, on Monday, Dawes said that not even full sponsorship would guarantee the 2011 staging.

“Even if we were to get full sponsorship, even then… I just don’t know,” he said. “Calabash to me is life and bringing it to this stage is difficult.”

The festival organisers include Dawes, Colin Channer, artistic director and founder, and Justine Henzell, producing director. Channer was absent from the press conference but was quoted in a release accompanying the press conference expressing sadness and fulfilment.

“We had a fantastic run and the festival effectively accomplished what it set out to do ten years ago, which is to produce a world-class, professionally run literary festival in Jamaica. Calabash has garnered a great deal of attention for Jamaica and the legacy of this exciting event will never be diminished,” his statement read.

“(Government) stated that they are in support of the 2012 celebration event,” stated Henzell about the future plans.

Calabash was a unique festival in that it remained free and open to the public for its full duration. Each year at the end of May, patrons would travel to Treasure Beach to enjoy great literature, great books, excellent food, remarkable music, and a positive vibe. The venue for the festival was the Jakes Resort, one of the major sponsors of the Festival.

Among the over 100 writers attending this festival over the years were Nobel laureates, Derek Walcott and Wole Soyinka, and authors Robert Pinsky, Russell Banks, Natasha Tretheway, Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat, and Linton Kwesi Johnson.

The Calabash International Literary Trust will continue its commitment to the support of the literary arts in Jamaica through its workshop and seminar series and other literary events.