Kwame Dawes, Jamaica’s poet laureate and co-founder of the Calabash Literary Festival, says this year’s event — held in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, May 23-25 — was the biggest in terms of attendance.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Dawes lauded the people of Treasure Beach, a quaint seaside area that has hosted Calabash since he started it with Colin Channer and Justine Henzell.

“This was a successful staging for the following reasons: It represented an affirmation of the resilience of the people of Treasure Beach and the Jakes Resort in coming through the devastation of [Hurricane] Beryl [in 2024]. This staging celebrated the spirit of community and resilience,” he said. “This was the largest attendance to the festival ever. Our enviable programming, matched by the brilliant performances of our invitees were maintained this year. Put another way, we delivered.”

Highlights included the presence of Booker Prize-winning authors Marlon James and Ian McEwan, Emmy-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, American poet Danez Smith, and guitarist Earl “Chinna” Smith’s Binghistra Movement’s tribute to the 50th anniversary of Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey album.

Dawes was also pleased with the strong youth turnout and diverse cast of poets, writers, and storytellers from as far as Sri Lanka.

“We believe we are attracting a younger audience. The open mic — easily one of the great highlights of Calabash — showed that. But we have been working on expanding our demographic while remaining faithful to our more mature attendees, but first giving attention to our programming and to our marketing approaches. We believe we are seeing some success there,” Dawes noted.

He stated that the no-show of Sri Lankan-born, Canadian poet/essayist Michael Ondaatje, due to “circumstances beyond his control”, was the lone disappointment. Ondaatje’s signature work is the 1992 book The English Patient.

Held biennially, the Calabash Literary Festival has attracted major figures such as Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott of St Lucia, British author Salman Rushdie, and firebrand Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.