Late co-founder of the Red Thread collective, Andaiye, will be remembered at the 2022 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, the annual festival of words and ideas based in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Bocas Lit Fest described Andaiye as a profound and transformative activist and thinker, and a crucial figure in the struggle for social and political rights in post-Independence Guyana and the wider Caribbean. From her early association with the New World Group, to her involvement in the leadership of the Working People’s Alliance, Andaiye was radical in her commitment to “expanding human freedom,” and her tireless devotion to “conspiracies of mutual caring,” a release from the Fest stated. Amongst Andaiye’s life’s work and legacies that will be the subject of the headline event is ‘The Point Is to Change the World’, a collection of Andaiye’s writings and interviews published in 2020.
Professor Alissa Trotz, editor of the volume, will be joined by scholar-activists, Carole Boyce Davies, Honor Ford-Smith, and Sunity Maharaj for a conversation about the continuing relevance of Andaiye’s work, and how the intersections of gender, race, and class will shape tomorrow’s Caribbean. In a welcome message published in the festival guide, festival director, Nicholas Laughlin, writes that Andaiye’s book, The Point Is to Change the World, was “both revelation and encouragement,” and inspired the theme of the 2022 programme.
The NGC Bocas Lit Fest’s lineup of readings, discussions, and performances features writers and others whose work grapples with the “immense changes we are living through, and the essential changes we still urgently need in order to create a more just and more livable world,” the release said. Other highlights include a discussion about a new biography of the T&T intellectual C.L.R. James, a showcase of contemporary Puerto Rican poets, a Friday-night celebration of Caribbean LGBTQI+ writing, and a “Big Idea” discussion panel on how the Caribbean must respond to the “existential threat” of climate change. The programme will announce the winner of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.
The event is free and open to all, with no tickets or registration required, like the rest of the 2022 NGC Bocas Lit Fest. Running from 28 April to 1 May with the theme “Four Days to Change the World”, the festival will once again this year be presented online, with events livestreamed via the website bocaslitfest.com and on the YouTube and Facebook platforms. After the festival weekend, all events will be available to watch on-demand for a limited time at youtube.com/bocaslitfest. The full schedule of events is available online at bocaslitfest.com.
