KINGSTON, Jamaica — This weekend, four acclaimed Man Booker Prize winners — Michael Ondaatje (1992), Ian McEwan (1998), Marlon James (2015), and Shehan Karunatilaka (2022) — alongside other distinguished authors, will gather at Treasure Beach in St Elizabeth for the biennial Calabash International Literary Festival.

The Man Booker Prize, now called the Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the literary world, which is awarded yearly to the best single work of fiction written in English and published in the United Kingdom.

The Calabash International Literary Festival, in its 16th iteration, continues to exert a magnetic pull on book lovers and writers internationally, scoring collaborations with Audible, drawing out celebrities like Angelina Jolie and gathering a laundry list of talented authors. Notably, the participants do it all for free, and in turn, the event is completely free to attend.

As the programme for Calabash is only released a month before the festival, some attendees book their flights having no idea who’s going to be reading. Co-founder Justine Henzell cites this as a testament to the trust placed in the organisers.

“We are four things: earthy, inspirational, daring and diverse,” explained Henzell, “And so we pick writers and poets that we know are, first of all, they’re excellent — that’s pretty much the only thing they have in common. Everybody is so strikingly singular, and you won’t necessarily love everything you hear, but you’re going to appreciate the skill of everything you hear.”

The 2025 edition of the festival is the hard work of Henzell and co-founder Kwame Dawes, along with a host of other volunteers who painstakingly curate what is widely recognised as an exceptional literary event.

“It is a testament to the entire team that the Calabash brand has grown to the point where we can reach out to a Booker Prize winner and they have heard good things about Calabash from people they like and trust,” Henzell said.

She described the energy of the festival and what keeps it going. “We understand what Calabash has meant for Treasure Beach, for Jamaica, for writing. And it brings a level of joy and community to the people that attend Calabash that is palpable.”

This year, 19 sections including Midnight Ravers, Truth And Dare, Two The Hard Way, All Memory Is Fiction plus two open mics will be fit into three days, from Friday, May 23rd to Sunday, May 25th.

During the sessions, a mixture of wizened and youthful authors including, Kei Miller, Caleb Femi, Alexandra Fuller, Tao Leigh Goffe, Kimiko Hahn, Paul Holdengräber and over a dozen others will share their expertise and writing, while guests including Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph will share their own “reasoning”.

Henzell explained that each participant is working pro-bono, “Nobody gets paid, we all volunteer, Jake’s Hotel gives the venue for free. That’s why we’re able to do it because we don’t have to pay for the venue; [authors] come for free and we pay their airfare and accommodation.”

Minister of Education Dana Morris Dixon will also be present at the literary festival.

Henzell commented on the reading crisis currently being faced by some Jamaican students and how to reinject the joy into reading.

“Getting excited about a story is a fundamental joy. When people get excited about hearing a story, they also want usually to share their story. And when people want to share their story, they can understand the fact that they need to learn to communicate. And learning to communicate, one of the most effective ways is reading and writing,” she explained.

“To be very proficient in communication, I think the first step is being excited about stories. It sounds counterintuitive that reading to someone will make them want to read, but I think it actually works that way.”

Henzell also lauded the ongoing changes in the Jamaican school system that allowed for even more diversity in what youngsters read today.

“In my generation and the generations that precede us, as Jamaicans going to school, initially it was all British writers that we were exposed to, and then the curriculum expanded to include Caribbean writers and now we have Jamaican writers.”

Henzell said, however, that diversity was important and students should be exposed to writers internationally.

In addressing the future of the acclaimed literary event, Henzell lauded the Jamaica Tourist Board for its continued support, but says she hopes corporate Jamaica will step up as well.

“The arts in general, whether it be the visual arts, dance or literature, struggle to find corporate sponsorship in Jamaica. I wish that corporate Jamaica would see the value in the arts and that the arts have huge importance when it comes to nation building,” she stressed.

If that funding were to come through, Henzell has an immediate plan for where it would go.

“We would do more workshops and potentially, you know, in the off years of Calabash, we would do other activations,” she said.

The complete list of participants this year is available on the Calabash website at https://calabashfestival.org/.

– Dana Malcolm

Patrons enjoy the 2023 iteration of the Calabash International Literary Festival (Photo: Calabash International Literary Festival )

Patrons enjoy the 2023 iteration of the Calabash International Literary Festival (Photo: Calabash International Literary Festival )

Patrons enjoy the 2023 iteration of the Calabash International Literary Festival (Photo: Calabash International Literary Festival )