Reading at Storytelling and Literature Edition of the Kingston Art Walk

The monthly Kingston Art Walk had as its March 26 theme, Storytelling and Literature featuring short story writers, spoken word poets, vocalists and the Ntukuma collective telling stories from books that they have created or writing that they have done.

Led by founder, Amina Blackwood Meeks, the format was How Ananse Came To Be In a Book with the wise Ma Gat who told stories from books, until Ananse was able to get why the story "Why Rat and Puss Are Not Friends" written into a book.

Interspersed in that frame, three storytellers blended in their own work. A-dZiko Sima read from her her coming of age novel, "All Over Again" which won the 2014 Burt Award for Caribbean Literature. St Mary parish based culinary artist Hassane Gordon told the recipe for her Sweet Potato Solomon Gundy.

Blackwood Meeks also highlighted her book "The Children Ought To Know", a collection of articles highlighting the philosophy behind African retentions in stories and also the legacy of such stories in nation building and interrogating current view of history.

Gwyneth Harold Davidson read the excerpt about Sam Sharpe from her YA fiction novel "Young Heroes of the Caribbean" where Sam, as a ten-year-old enslaved person, learns a harsh lesson as he realises the impact of divide and rule among the workers on his plantation.

The collective performed at the Reggae Month edition of Kingston Art Walk in February and had a hybrid presentation from its office at the Mico University for International Storytelling Day 2023.

See video of Harold Davidson at the Kingston Art Walk here: Young Heroes of the Caribbean