The second edition of Read my World, the new international literature

festival in Amsterdam, again gave an in depth view of a region that

mainly reaches Dutch media due to disaster. The formula: provide
writers from the region itself with the opportunity to present a
selection of promising literary talent. Report of a three-day literary exploration of the
Caribbean today.
Day 1
On the ferry from Amsterdam Central Station the waterplane of the IJ mirrors an orange and
violet sky. I'm on my way to the Tolhuistuin, at the foot of the former Shell Tower. For the
coming days this hotspot of actual urban culture will be the stage of Read my World,
Amsterdam's new international festival of literature. Last year, the first edition brought
young writers and poets from over the Middle East
to the Netherlands. The Caribbean is key to this
years edition. Suriname, Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti.
What do we know of these former colonies
literature today?
In the well stocked great room the audience is
young and at least as diverse as the city itself. On
the stage dub poet Sheldon Shepherd - dreadlocks,
sunglasses, irie smile starts a rhythmic sound
improvisation turning into a rap poem about life in
Kingston, Jamaica. Read my world in the news daily ... The frontman of the No-Madzz
spoken word collective is accompanied by jazz bassist Pablo Nahar, straight from Suriname.
Welcome to the Caribbean!
A New Generation
Please show us your world, that question is rarely
put by a literary festival in the West, the Surinam
based playwright Sharda Ganga submits to
presenter Andrew Makkinga. Ganga is one of the
three festival curators. She and writers Ruel
Johnson (Guyana) and Kettly Mars (Haiti) have
chosen four writers each, representing the fine
fleur of young writers from their regions. Ruel
Johnson, writer and polemicist: I want to show
that technology and globalization have reached us as well, causing new literary
developments and interaction.
Kettly Mars had to abstain due to illness, but Evelyne Truillot, Jean-Euphle Milc and
Emmelie Prophte from Haiti are present. In French Milc recites the poem Temps mort he
wrote just after the devastating earthquake. Gathered before the crumbling national palace
in Port au Prince, the stupefied people look one another in the eye [...] clinging to the
outstretched hand of cholera and promises of chaos.
In short presentations Vladimir Lucien and Kendel Hippolyte (St. Lucia), Davlin Thomas
(Trinidad & Tobago), Sara Bharrat (Guyana), Shakirah Bourne and Adrian Green (Barbados)
display a great diversity, but most have exploring the literary capacities of Creole vernacular
in common. Shakirah Bourne, 26, reads from In time of Need, short stories bringing her

international recognition. In 'Getting marry a 6-year old boy eats from a wedding cake with
his little girl friend, not aware that upon the tabel that they hide under the father of the boy
is making love to the baker of the cake.
From an armchair on the stage a small black man raises. The petite stature with fedora-hat
and oxford glasses appears no none less than the legendary British Jamaican dub poet Linton
Kwesi Johnson. LKJ reached cult status in the
eighties by combining political poetry with dub
music. On records like Bass Culture and Inglan is a
Bitch he worded the grievances of West Indians in
London, who rebelled after Newcross massacre (13
killed) against racist treatment by the London
police and the impunity of the arsonists.
Musical poetry
Theres always a bass line in the background, says
the still active master. One day I realized that I could reach a wide audience by using this
music. LKJ recounts his tours with Allan Ginsberg and William Burroughs. Naming his early
inspirations like Prince Buster and King Tubby, the Jamaican patriarchs of ska and rap music,
the same as Sheldon Shepherds, two generations later on.
Who better then Dutch-Surinam Glenn Ramdamie, aka Typhoon, can round the circle this
evening. Storming both pop and literature festivals with half-improvised poems
accompanied by musicians in a variety of styles, Typhoon has just won the 3voor12 Prize and
has a sore throat. Nevertheless he moves like a dolphin through the Dutch language,
intelligently interweaving rap idiom, classical poetry and philosophy. Improvising freely with
Pablo Nahar, a this is the interactive part is enough to make the audience take part in
producing the groove.
Day 2
Saturday around noon visitors eat pizza from the stone oven or couscous from one of the
stalls in the park of the Tolhuistuin. In a huge Tuareg tent jazzdiva Denise Jannah reads from
Clark Accords The Queen of Paramaribo. In the Garden room the impact of tourism and
'exoticism' on Caribbean culture is discussed.
During What comes from afar pupils from three
Amsterdam high schools read poems they have
writen the weeks before, inspired by Shakirah h
Bourne and Kendel Hippolyte.
Of each class three students read a selection,
some proving unexpected talent. Hippolyte and
Bourne come to the table to answer questions.
What are your sources of inspiration? At what
time of day do you write? Does music help when
writing?
Nobel Prize

For Kendel Hippolyte the greatest poets are William Blake

and Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott, the latter from St.
Lucia like Hippolyte himself. The dreadlocked poet writes at
any time of the day, because a beautiful sentence can be
gone the next moment. As for music as a source of
inspiration: One day I hope to write a poem that sounds like
one of the great jazz solos.
Especially Hippolyte's poem 'Advice to the young poet and
Bournes Getting marry' inspire the young poets. Shakirah Bourne is impressed by the
performances. Keep writing and read as many stories as you can, she advises.
On a red sofa six writers, three Belgian-Flemish and three Dutch, exchange texts and ideas in
the context of the tour 'Know your neighbors'. In another room journalist and writer Linda
Polman explores reality and perception of Haiti with Zarayda Greenheart, Evelyne Truillot
and Jean-Euphle Milc. I have to choose and following the festival curators in the main hall
seems the best option. Sharda Ganga explains why she has chosen Kendel Hippolyte, Adrian
Green, Sheldon Sherpherd and Davlin Thomas. To me they illustrate our playful, musical
literary tradition in contrast to the more cerebral, rationalist approach that I know of
Europe.
Adorned with red plastic devils ears Davlin Thomas
reads from his play 'The Idiot'. A mother superior
confesses to the bishop that she seduces men and
women to murder them during orgasm. A villainous
monologue about evil in the disguise of innocence.
Theatre in Trinidad and Tobago is pure entertainment,
Davlin explains. I entertain my audience until it roars
with laughter, and then suddenly I put a mirror in front
of it. Blaming politicians is easy, but evil is in all of us.
Adrian Green from Barbados shows himself a strong
performer, reciting his rhythmic poetry to a trance, meanings tumble over one another like
pebbles in a rapids. Sheldon Shepherd presents In the morning yah, his first compilation of
dub poetry especially printed for Read My World, with CD.
Exploring Movement
Curator Ruel Johnson chose simply the brightest young talents
from the Caribbean literature festival Carifesta. Poet Vladimir
lucien from St. Lucia for example, who recently gained
international recognition with Sounding Ground, an impressive
collection of poems about identity, politics and 'home'. These
elements, according to Lucien, have no solid core, but exist by the
grace of movement. For every journey the analysis of ground is
necessary. That analysis is what imbues this journey, which is
essentially yours, with its meaning. That is what makes it a
journey, and not an empty ambling about. Lucien recites 'The
true sounds of numbers': In this gatherings of silence, this world of
disease, people who miss organs / I want to hear the sound of
numbers. Whether they bleat or cry, or sing like birds (...)

Shakirah Bourne reads Crossing Over,

about a naughty school girl who likes
jumping over open graves at the many
funerals she has to attend with her
mother, but her innocence is lost when a
friend falls and dies while playing. 'But
now because of things like them, Lasonta
may be going to hell. If I did know that
little children could dead, I would never
have played these tricks. At the funeral
the girl sees a spirit departing from her
friends dead body, challenging her to jump over the grave.
Sara Bharrat became known in Guyana through her blog Break your silence ', encourageing
young people to break the taboo on interethnic relations. She reads a love story about a
Creole man and a Hindu girl. During an awards ceremony for Bharrat the story chased a
Guyanese minister from the hall. In my country, love between racial groups is still called
blood contamination, Bharrat explains.
Gentile silence
Political commitment, especially with issues of color and class, is present in many shades.
Not surprisingly so in a region where the heritage of slavery and colonialism is always
present. In the Tuareg tent Chris Keulemans asks Ruel Johnson if anger can be a fertile
creative source. 'Ethnic politics in Guyana are
an every day cause for anger, Johnson replies.
As our society calms down, the gentile silence
grows over the abuses. Writers have a natural
role to continue the debate.
Reading form her recent novel Christine Otten
illustrates that there are things to discuss in the
Netherlands too. Rafael is based on a true story
of a young Dutch womans search for the
Tunesian father of her child. When during the
Tunisian Spring the Netherlands closes its
border for Tunisians, the husband can only return to Europe by traffickers to the isle of
Lampedusa. Along the way, he gets lost in the dim world of illegality.
As a writer and organiser Otten is strongly commited to breaking cultural boundaries. Her
literary show Bijlmer Books draws full houses in Zuidoost, one of the most ethnically
diverse areas of Amsterdam. Meanwhile Linton
Kwesi Johnson takes a stroll on the festival
grounds, willingly posing for 'selfies with. In the
tent he speaks on writing in Creole as an
'upright stand', about language and power. LKJ
warns of the recurrence of national rhetorics .
Weve seen where this leads us in former
Yugoslavia. My heart sings, my heart sucks his
younger alter ego Sheldon Shepherd dubs in.

After a quick dinner at one of the stalls a discussion on the role of 'machismo' in Caribbean
literature follows a documentary about Frank Martinus Arion, famous writer of Dutch
Curaao. In the Garden room the Poets Marathon takes off. In a languid, meditative
atmosphere a choice of poets recite
alternately: Charles Ducal, Hagar Peters,
Vladimir Lucien, Anne Vegter, Edwin Fagel,
Maria van Daalen, Tonnus Oosterhoff,
Maarten van der Graaff, Antoine de Kom,
Geert Buelens, Erik Solvanger. Particularly
impressive is the performance of the SyrianPalestinian poet Ghayath Almadhoun,
revelation of last years Festival. Read my
World endorsed a translated edition of his
epic Away from Damascus, an apocalyptic
view of the ruined city of his youth. After this I catch a glimpse of Christine Ottens Bijlmer
Books XL in the great hall, where the Dutch rapper Brainpower challenges the Surinamese
comedian Jrgen Rayman to cross the cultural border once for himself. Rayman sings,
convincingly, the poetic evergreen Along the garden path of my father of Wim Sonneveld.
With a Spoken Beat Night singer-writer Jeannine Valeriano brings the official program of Day
2 to a close. Her improvisations are supported by live animators and jazz musicians Maarten
Ornstein, Mark Tuinstra and Ronald Snijders. Snijders impresses with an authentic Indian
raga on a European flute.
For those still not ready for sleep fire pits glow in the nightly park. Quite a crowd has
gathered for storytelling and music by, among others, Kendel Hippolyte and Sahand
Sahebdivani.
Day 3
On Sunday the program starts late in the afternoon. In the great hall converse interviews:
writers question close readers of their work, resulting in stunning conversations. Anne
Vegter has read Charles Ducal and is too lyrical to let the Flemish poet intervene. Sharda
Ganga has read Els Moors Songs of a capsizing horse. Moors: did you hear a voice? Ganga:
I saw someone struggling for shelter to find that there is none. Very oppressive, especially
the part about a man who wakes up in a body bag, the staff of the morgue not letting him
permission leave. Moors: Did you think this is a writer with a personal problem, or also why
is this written?' Ganga: Caribbean writers describe suffering as a result of European culture.
Here I read about suffering within the European culture itself: a futile search for love.
During the meeting Brave New World Carl Haarnack, historian and blogger of Buku
Bibliotheca Surinamica, provides a historical overview of racist images in Dutch childrens
books. We see the dubious origins of Zwarte Piet. Whether of not to abolish this black
servant of the Dutch Santa Claus has become subject of a fierce political debate in the
Netherlands.
Haitian author Evelyne Trouillot
doesnt recognise the imagery from
the French books of her childhood.
In Jules Verne there are no black

people. You only realise this as an adult. Only since twenty years black children appear in our
childrens literature. Nowadays in Haiti thats booming business for writers.
Times do change. Truillot herself is now writing about a black boy returning with his parents
from Blooklyn to Haiti, where he discovers the history of the first republic of former slaves.
Afro-American-Dutch author Mylo Freedman adds that she shared with millions of girls a
frenzy about princesses. One day, I wondered why princesses should always have blond hair
and blue eyes. Freedman created Princess Arabella, her comic books with a coloured
princess are read now by girls all over the world.
Artistic reflections
In the Garden room poets Geert Buelens and Maria van Daalen provide artistic reflections on
Sounding Ground of Vladimir Lucien. The meeting is one of the finest of the festival, similar
to the encounter between Willem Jan Otten and Ghayat Almadhoun last year. Both are the
work of editor Joost Baars. As a bilingual Fleming Buelens recognizes Luciens theme of
describing home in an official language that isnt yours. This requires permanent
translation, but Lucien shows it is without a chance, says Buelens. Lucien reads 'Pastorale',
once more spreading the wings of his lyrical talent.
And love would be a herd of moments grazing/ upon memory when we turn back gazing/
and not one of their may lift a face/ from the pastoral, from that unvaried place/
To give a meagre look, except one in lazy mistrust/ might raise its head masticating
mouthfuls of lust ()
Room with a View is a presentation of stories of Karin Amatmoekrim, Auke Hulst, Rachid
Novaire and Gerbrand Bakker inspired by photographs the Caribbean festival guests made of
the views from their working rooms at home. And then
the festival reaches a final climax. In the great hall Text
Forge has staged a theatrical dialogue of Malou de Roy
van Zuydewijn inspired by Davlin Thomas Carnival
Plays. Actors Wijnand Stomp and Sara van Gennip play
a director and his PR assistant, hiding a sexual
relationship and various less attractive motifs behind
their seemingly professional manipulations.
When the Sranan Poku dance party takes off I wander
through the Tolhuistuin. I realize that this was not a festival of recognition, but of discovery. I
have been diving into a world I knew only superficially before. In many different forms of
presentation I've met writers, poets and performers with a different history, a different
worldview and unexpected forms of expression. Through all the differences that one single
theme of literature all over the globe: the universal search for meaning and beauty in the
human condition.
Next year Willemijn Lamp and Matthijs Ponte of Read my World will be presenting
emerging talent from another remote region to which the Netherlands is
historically connected: Indonesia. No better way to read a world than by its own
writers. Dont miss out on it.
[Frank Siddiqui / mfusid@gmail.com]