Reading Festival to Honour Miss Lou in Florida
January 28, 2010The Full Story
The third annual Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou) Reading Festival takes place next Saturday (January 30) at 2:00 p.m., at the Broward County South Regional Library, in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
This event marks the launch of activities at that Library celebrating February as Black History Month.
This year’s celebration is titled, ‘Miss Lou and wi kulcha (culture)’ and will include a panel of known Jamaicans to discuss the nation’s cultural development. The Reverend Easton Lee, writer, poet and composer will speak on the ‘Elements of Ancestral Teachings’; Dr. Susan Davis, actress, poet and educator will speak on: ‘Elements of Drama/the Spoken Word’; Ms. L’Antoinette Stines, choreographer and educator, on the ‘Elements of Dance’, while Ms. Lilieth Nelson, poet and composer, and actress will discuss the ‘Elements of Music’.
According to Mrs. Norma Darby, Director Emeritus of the Jamaica Folk Revue, a South Florida-based cultural group, the panelists will also address the various ways in which Miss Lou’s body of work was influenced by the traditional art forms of Jamaica’s rich culture and heritage.
Following the death of Miss Lou in July 2006, an annual Community Cultural Tribute and Scholarship fund-raiser and the Reading Festival were started by Mrs. Darby to honour the work and legacy of Jamaica’s former cultural ambassador.
“Miss Lou’s work continues to influence us immensely through her volumes of lasting and immeasurable contributions to Jamaica’s cultural development, and for that we owe her a debt of gratitude,” Mrs. Darby said.
The event will also feature cultural performances by local Jamaican entertainers, including the Jamaica Folk Revue, the Tallawah Mento Band, and dub poet, Malachi Smith.
There will also be a book launch and signing of ‘Angles of Reflection: Poems by Lil”, a collection of poems and prose by Ms. Lilieth Nelson, a member of the University Singers, and former Chairman of the Traditional Folk Forms Committee of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).