The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, will continue its effort in assisting creative writers to hone their skills with a regional workshop series, scheduled to run from Tuesday, December 4 to Saturday, December 8. Beginning at 9:00 am daily, each one-day workshop will cover all five literary areas of: Novels, Essays, Plays, Short Stories and Poetry.
The Central Region, covering the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester, and St. Elizabeth, will host its workshop on Tuesday, December 4 at the St. Mark Anglican Church Hall, Mandeville, Manchester. The Western Region, which covers Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James, and Trelawny, will follow, hosting its workshop on Wednesday, December 5 at the St. James Parish Office, Montego Bay. Then Thursday, December 6 will see the Northern Region, which covers the parishes of St. Ann, St. Mary, and Portland, host its workshop at the St. Mary Anglican Church Hall, Port Maria, St. Mary.
The four-part Workshop series closes on Saturday, December 8, with the Eastern Region, which covers the parishes of St. Thomas, Kingston and St. Andrew and St. Catherine, which will see its workshop being held at Phoenix Central, 2 Phoenix Avenue, Kingston 10.
“Writing, being a major part of the Jamaican Creative industry, the JCDC is always looking to facilitate the literary development of creative talents, and has seen such development for many years. Namely by helping to propel creative writers known and otherwise to take their creativity to new and exciting places.” said Andrew Clunis, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission.
Clunis continued, “These workshops are open to everyone and anyone who aspires to hone their craft and take their creative writing career to the next level, which of course includes writers looking to partake in the Jamaica Creative Writing Competition as well.”
Persons interested in honing their craft through these workshops must submit one piece of literary work to [email protected] by Friday, November 16, 2018. This work will be assessed during the workshop.
The registration fee for the workshop is $2000, which includes lunch and a coffee break. Participants will also receive workshop materials and a certificate.
Interested persons may contact Miss Anna Kay Rowe, Administrative Support Officer, Speech and Literary Arts, 926-5726-9 ext. 246, or your local JCDC Parish Office.
The Jamaica Creative Writing Competition is divided into three levels: Junior, Intermediate and Adult awards. Top writers are awarded respectively in each level of the five subject areas: Essays, Novels, Poetry, Short Stories and Plays.
Entries for the competition are now open, and will remain so until April 26, 2019. Persons can access entry forms, rules and competition guidelines from the JCDC website, www.jcdc.gov.jm, its Head Office at 3-5 Phoenix Avenue in Kingston or at Parish Offices across the island.
