JEWEL Greene-George, president of the Tobago Writers Guild, says there is a paucity of monuments and signage dedicated to the island’s literary icons.
She raised the issue on December 10 while contributing to a public consultation hosted by the Cabinet-appointed committee on statues, monuments and signage at the Scarborough Library.
The committee, established in August 2022, visited Tobago to hear the public’s views on the criteria that should be established for erecting statues, monuments and signage in public spaces.
Participants were also asked to make suggestions for removing or retaining specific statues, monuments and signage in public spaces and the actions that should be taken for those to be removed.
Greene-George said, “We were sharing that we don’t have a lot of signage, monuments or even a remembrance of some of our literary luminaries. And what we want to be able to see is that history recorded visibly for us to be able to remember them.”
Referring to famous writers such as Sidney Sheldon and Ann Rhys, she said Tobago also has several prolific writers such as Marlene NourbeSe-Phillip, Earl Lovelace (who grew up in Tobago) and poet and dramatist Eric Roach.
She said the former head of the public service Reginald Dumas, who died in March, should be recognised for his writings and academic work.
Greene-George said the Tobago Drama Guild performs several of Roach’s plays regularly.
“What we are proposing is that we look at how we are putting up the signage and the monuments in a strategic way in terms of where these persons would have come from – more location-based. So for instance, Eric Roach’s heritage is in Mt Pleasant, while Lovelace is from Calder Hall.
“What we are looking at is literary tourism. We are looking at the ability for visitors to be able to come and do a tour, to be able to attract persons, whether they are from Tobago, whether they are from Trinidad, the wider Caribbean regionally or whether they are from overseas, outside of the region, to want to come to Tobago to see where Eric Roach lived – how he lived.”
She used singer and fashion mogul Rihanna’s childhood home in Barbados as an example.
“They have turned Rihanna’s chattel home into a museum. People leave wherever they have come from to just visit the house that she grew up in. I think that is something that we have to look at very seriously.”
Greene-George said Tobago can consider putting on the map “a literary tour that we can have from one location to the next to take photos, buy books, to rent books perhaps, even for our locals.”
She believes Trinidad and Tobago’s home-grown literary talent must be recognised and celebrated.
“It is very important that we in Trinidad and Tobago understand that writing, reading, literacy, as well as the literary arts, publishing books, it is not something that somebody out there has accomplished. It is something right here that we can use as a career. It is a solid career path.
“It is one that is lucrative once we get that support and I think we should make sure t
