On today’s Blank Canvas, guest host Dr. Craig Smith is joined by UB english professor and poet Dr. Amatoritsero Ede, acclaimed Trinidadian poet Shivanee Ramlochan and Bahamian artist and poet Sonia Farmer. They discuss the upcoming third annual Blue Flamingo Literary Festival (BFLF) in partnership with the NAGB, which will be held at The University of The Bahamas March 21-23, 2019.
Conversation focuses on the importance of literary festivals in promoting literary arts and building community among local and international writers. Farmer and Ramlochan discuss the combined poetry and book making workshops they will conduct as part of the BFLF (Friday and Saturday) as well as their “In Conversation” talk, which will take place at the NAGB on the Friday evening. The pair speak to the necessity of confronting difficult issues, such as sexual assault, within our art.
Dr. Ede, a committee member for the BFLF, discusses the aim of this year’s festival to build connections between the Bahamian and Canadian writing communities. He notes that invited guests for this year’s BFLF include Canadian poet laureate George Elliott Clarke; award winning Jamaican poet, fiction and non-fiction writer Olive Senior; Bahamian academic, playwright, and poet Dr. Ian Strachan; and Bahamian women’s rights activist, poet and filmmaker Marion Bethel and many more.
Tune in and join the conversation! The Blank Canvas airs this and every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on Guardian Talk Radio 96.9 FM.
