SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER, 2018 – UWI TODAY
23
CAMPUS NEWS
The University of the West Indies
has acquired the archives for fiction
writer Lawrence Scott’s first novel Witchbroom. On November 15, the
Library will be holding a special ceremony in its AV Room to mark
the handover of Lawrence Scott’s Witchbroom archives as a symbolic
acknowledgement of the importance of this literarymaterial as a valuable
resource for research.
The UWI continues to secure and treasure the heritage of the region
through activities such as seeking out and expanding literary collections.
The Alma Jordan Library has a rich store of archived literary papers of
several significant Caribbean writers, helping to keep their legacy alive
and accessible to all. The writers include names like Ian McDonald,
Earl Lovelace, Eric Roach, CLR James, Samuel Selvon, Derek Walcott,
Monique Roffey and Michael Anthony.
The Alma Jordon Library shared with UWI Today that “this
acquisition is a coup for The UWI as many of our writers reside outside
the region and are being asked to lodge their papers and manuscripts
with institutions outside the region. We are honoured that Mr Scott, who
resides in the UK, wishes to have his papers remain in the Caribbean.”
Lawrence Scott is a prize-winning author from T&T. His work
has stimulated critical work into the post-colonial novel’s use of magic
realism, carnival, calypso, her/history, storytelling, dialect/standard
narratives, identity, landscape, the body, race, religion and homo/
sexuality.
Scott was born in 1943 on a sugarcane estate at Petit Morne, Usine
Sainte Madeleine, and educated at Boy’s RC School, San Fernando, and
at The Abbey School, Mount Saint Benedict. He left T&T at 19 to go to
England, where he studied Philosophy and Theology, and later, English
Language and Literature. He worked as an English and Drama teacher
for many years at schools in London and Trinidad, while working as a
creative writer. His stories have been broadcast on BBC radio and have
been anthologised internationally,
In 2012, he was awarded a Lifetime Literary award by the National
Library of T&T for his significant contribution to the literature of T&T.
His first novel Witchbroom (1992) marked its 25th anniversary of
publication last year with a new edition. His second novel Aelred’s Sin
(1998) received a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best Book in Canada
and the Caribbean (1999) award. His most recent book is a collection
of short stories entitled Leaving by Plane Swimming Back Underwater
(2015). His other novels are: Light Falling on Bamboo (2012) and Night
Calypso (2004).
For more information on Lawrence Scott,
please visit his website at:
Alma Jordan Library acquires
SCOTT’S
WITCHBROOM
ARCHIVES
Witchbroom novel
Lawrence Scott
PHOTOS BY KEYON KITCHELL AND GUYTN OTTLEY
GRADUATION 2018
GRADUATION
HIGHLIGHTS 2018
