The blend of arts and coffee was a winning combination for the Jamaica Brew Festival, which took place on January 18 at Miramar Cultural Center in Miramar, South Florida.

The event, organised by the Jamaican consulate in Miami, showcased mainly Jamaican writers and films.

Oliver Mair, Jamaica’s consul general to Miami, was pleased with its second staging.

“We had 400 persons throughout the day; last year we had 180 persons. We honoured [Julius] Garvey for his consistent advocacy on his dad’s message,” he said.

Dr Julius Garvey is a writer, surgeon, and son of Marcus Garvey — the pan-African giant and Jamaica’s first national hero.

He read from three books — Justice For Garvey, He Woke, and a revised edition of Philosophy And Opinions of Marcus Garvey.

Dr Garvey’s presentation took place one day before US President Joe Biden pardoned the elder Garvey, who had been imprisoned in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1925 to 1927 on questionable mail fraud charges.

Marcus Garvey, a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, died in June 1940 in London at age 52.

Approximately 24 writers, including Michael Brown, Judith Falloon-Reid, Kwame McPherson, Malachi Smith, and Kellie Magnus, participated in the Jamaica Brew Festival which debuted in 2024.

Ten films — eight of them short pieces first viewed at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) Fi Wi Festival in Kingston — were viewed. One of them was Foreign Exchange from film-maker Cleon James, who believes the 2012 drama, which stars Garfield Smith and Susan Joy, benefited from its latest showing.

“It broadens your horizons and expectations. It exposes your work to other audiences and allows you to network with fellow artistes,” he said.

For the second straight year, Norman Grant, chairman of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association, gave a presentation on Blue Mountain Coffee, one of the country’s most popular products.