December 2009


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Interlocking Basins of a Globe

By Dr Jean Antoine-Dunne

As part of its Caribbean Nobel Laureates celebrations, The UWI pays tribute to Derek Walcott with an academic conference titled Interlocking Basins of a Globe. Several aspects of the work of the 1992 Nobel Laureate will be discussed at the St Augustine Campus by various experts in January 2010.

The list of eminent international scholars who have confirmed their attendance includes such well-known names in Caribbean scholarship as Laurence Breiner, Paul Breslin, Kenneth Ramchand and Rhonda Cobham. The gathering will hear a keynote address delivered by Professor Emeritus Edward Baugh who, in 2007, edited Derek Walcott’s Selected Poems and whose work on Walcott is legendary. Other featured speakers include Professor Emeritus Gordon Rohlehr and Dr Jean Antoine-Dunne whose work spans both literature and film.

Walcott, who was recently named professor of poetry at Essex University, will read from his work during the conference.

The Nobel Laureates series was conceived as a gift to the nation and thus the entire conference is free and open to the public.

Derek Walcott, Poet Laureate, essayist, dramatist, painter, journalist and filmmaker will be the focus of a celebratory academic conference in his honour from 12th to 15th January at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine. he academic conference entitled “Interlocking Basins of a Globe” has been scheduled to dovetail with St Lucia’s Nobel Laureate Week held every year during the week of the birthdays of Walcott and Arthur Lewis.

On January 23, Walcott marks his eightieth birthday, and the conference includes elements of the many facets of his work, including his pioneering contribution to Caribbean drama. Professor Bridget Brereton will chair a special panel comprising long-standing members of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, which he founded in 1959.

The list of eminent international scholars who have confirmed their attendance includes such well-known names in Caribbean scholarship as Laurence Breiner, Paul Breslin, Kenneth Ramchand and Rhonda Cobham.

The gathering will hear a keynote address delivered by Professor Emeritus Edward Baugh who, in 2007, edited Derek Walcott’s "Selected Poems" and whose work on Walcott is legendary. Other featured speakers include Professor Emeritus Gordon Rohlehr and Dr Jean Antoine-Dunne whose work spans both literature and film.

Panellists will discuss topics such as “Walcott’s Ghosts and Confréres” and “History as Muse” and Walcott’s contribution to Caribbean intellectual thought. The dramatic works as well as the often-quoted Nobel speech, "The Antilles", will be further illuminated through a repeat performance of the Department of Creative and Festival Arts’ production “Fragments” and there will be a special Secondary schools event on Friday 15th.

One of the unique inclusions in the multi pronged programme is a mini film festival of Walcott’s own films. "The Haytian Earth" made for television and produced by Timmy Mora and "The Rig" directed by Walcott and filmed by Christopher Laird as well as Yao Ramesar’s film, "The Saddhu of Couva", which is narrated and directed by Walcott, will all be screened. These are works that are rarely shown and they should certainly give an added dimension to the proceedings.

Walcott who now spends much of his time travelling through Europe and the Americas when not in St Lucia or Trinidad will be present. These journeys form the subject of his latest major poem, "The Prodigal" (2004), a work that also mourns the death of Walcott’s twin brother, Roddy. The movement between here and elsewhere is also one of the themes of the visually magnificent book "Tiepolo’s Hound" which celebrates the life and work of another Caribbean artist, Camille Pissarro, whose voluntary exile to Paris influenced the French Impressionist movement.

Walcott will read from his work during the conference.