In 1962, in the midst of the Edinburgh Festival of Music and Drama, a literary conference erupted. Writers from Scotland, England, the United States, Germany, and India put on such spirited debates, the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference refers to that first meeting as “the infamous Writers’ Conference of 1962”. To commemorate fifty years of exciting exchanges about words, books, and ideas, the EWWC took its show on the road in 2012 and 2013. The NGC Bocas Lit Fest was one of fourteen sites around the world hosting EWWC events, and our panel of international writers considered the troublesome notion of A National Literature?. The panel was chaired by Marina Warner, and featured a keynote address from Marlon James, with Irvine Welsh, Hannah Lowe and Vahni Capildeo filling out the writers’ table. James’ keynote masterfully butchered the determinism that tends to fuel the titles we ascribe to what we read, and how we then purpose to think about it.
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EWWC Debate: A National Literature?
Speakers:
David Codling, Hannah Lowe, Ivrine Welsh, Marina Warner, Marlon James, Vahni Capildeo
Recorded:
27 April 2013
Format:
Video