PRIME MINISTER FREUNDEL STUART yesterday called for Caribbean writers to be given greater recognition, while admitting he felt more at home among them than in the midst of other politicians.
During yesterday’s breakfast of the Bim Literary Festival celebrating the 70th anniversary of Bim magazine launched in May 1942 by Frank Collymore, the Prime Minister said he had only studied literature for one year at the University of the West Indies before focusing on political science, but his heart remained in his books.
“The resonance of my literary urgings never diminished, nor did the flame ever burn low, and even though I didn’t continue to do literature formally, I continue to do it informally and it has been my passion for all of my life,” he told the audience at Hilton Barbados that included literary icons Austin “Tom” Clarke, Earl Lovelace and Nobel laureate Derek Walcott.
Stuart said that unfortunately the stereotypical Caribbean politician was a man who did not read and whose interests were therefore limited.
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