“To be a writer you have to read. To be a writer you have to write well. To be a writer you have to be disciplined and write every day, and you have to respect your craft,” says Professor Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw, Lecturer and Coordinator of French Literature in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics.
The professor was speaking at a discussion hosted by the Pelican Book Club at The UWI St Augustine. Titled the “Caribbean Literature Roundtable Discussion,” the November 2019 event focused on the importance of local and regional literature that represents Caribbean culture. It was held at the Institute of Critical Thinking.
Moderated by Dr J Vijay Maharaj, lecturer with more than 20 years of experience in the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies, the discussion featured two distinguished writers, Professor Walcott-Hackshaw and Dr Muli Amaye, Lecturer and Coordinator of the MFA in Creative Writing Programme. They spoke on (but were not limited to) three main topics: raising literary consciousness, reaching for critical acclaim and facilitating new writing.
Dr Maharaj opened the discussion by asking the guest speakers to share the catalyst for their personal journeys in writing, which launched the conversation into the different experiences of both authors. Dr Amaye shared her journey as a writer coming out of Manchester, England while Prof Walcott-Hackshaw expressed the realities of being a writer from the Caribbean.
The conversation transitioned to the fact that there are few recognised publication houses in the Caribbean, a point Dr Maharaj introduced by referencing a panel discussion that featured authors Marlon James and Kei Miller, who reacted with laughter when asked about not having their work published in the region.
Walcott-Hackshaw noted that the literary climate has changed since the beginning of her career as an author. However, she shared the names of various publishers known for accepting works by Caribbean writers, saying that good writing is publishable in any location. Dr Amaye highlighted the struggles that writers from a minority group within the United Kingdom face when attempting to find publishers. She suggested publication through journals as a means of beginning the journey.
Continuing her previous note regarding reading as the means to produce good writing, Prof Walcott-Hackshaw expressed the importance of engaging with material from outside the Caribbean and the English language. Dr Amaye furthered this by saying that she encourages her students in the creative writing programme to read everything. She noted, “When we are reading any kind of book, we are learning about structure and we don’t even know that we are learning that. But once we start to read and we start to absorb what we’re reading... we start to feel that structure as a part of us....”
The Pelican Book Club is a student-led group established in 2018 with the main purpose of promoting literature affiliated with the Caribbean region, people of colour and social justice narratives. You can reach them through their social media platforms for example via the handle @thepelicanbookclub.
