Montserrat, the small island which Henry Nelson Coleridge, the nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, briefly visited in 1825 “for relief to breathe its air”2 is the birth place of such literary figures as M.P Shiel, the first unofficially acclaimed King of Redonda, playwright Edgar White and the late poet, novelist and academic, E. Archie Markham. The island will be holding its first literary festival, the Alliouagana Festival of the Word, from November 13 – 15, 2009.
Writers, publishers and literary agents around the world as well as Montserratians living overseas will have the opportunity to establish and strengthen connections while participating in the celebration of the word in its many manifestations. Authors who have won various literary awards have generously agreed to participate in the first literary festival to be held on this island which over the last two decades has seen the emergence of a disaster literature.
The festival will include a wide range of workshops and seminars and tours of the island. Click HERE for more info!
