There are so many different ways to travel, but I find that often, many of us are traveling for a beach, for food, to unwind, for adventure. Which are all beautiful things.
A literary festival on the other hand, may not be first to mind for those who aren’t writers or aspiring to be counted among them. But I think that’s where we miss out sometimes.
Travel can take so many shapes, and coming at things from a different angle is part of what seeing the world is all about. And Jamaica’s Calabash International Literary Festival could just change the way you see travel, the way you see Jamaica and the way you see literature, all at once.
The festival—dubbed “the greatest little festival in the greatest little district in the greatest little country in the world”—happens in Treasure Beach, a quiet part of rural Jamaica where fishing is a way of life and Rasta men sell Ital food on the roadside.
Calabash is literature done Jamaican style, without the stuffiness that often surrounds these scenes in other parts of the world. It’s writing served with a side of jerk chicken, with sounds of reggae rising over the sound of lapping sea waves.
Here’s a taste of the little biennial festival that I promise will be calling your name until it comes around again.
What you’ll do
Remember being read to as a kid and how fun it was? Well, if you haven’t experienced it lately, it’s still fun. At Calabash, some of the greatest writers in the Caribbean and around the world, will read from their novels and poetry while you sit under an open air tent overlooking the sea so close sometimes the splashing waves and sea breeze compete for your attention.
When the writing is good, it will give you all the feels. This year, Malika Booker made me laugh, Patricia Smith made me cry, and Safia Elhillo made me understand what it’s like to speak beauty.
If you like to read, build a book club around the festival and pick a story whose author is part of the Calabash lineup. That’s what we did on a trip organized by CrushGlobal, and to see Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage come to life on stage when she read it after we did, was an experience all its own.
What you’ll hear
Beyond the written word, it wouldn’t be a trip to Jamaica without music, and Calabash refuses to leave you hanging. When the readings wrap each night, music takes over where the readings left off. On the first night of the festival, it’s reggae night, and live musicians grace the stage, while mind-enriched attendees sway to the tunes, sipping Red Stripes or rum and coconut water. On the second night, it’s time to turn up, and Jamaica’s leading DJs (often women) will take the stage giving the crowd a lesson in dancehall, with a sprinkle of soca, and vibes well into the morning.
What you’ll eat
Pre, post and during readings, cooks extremely well-versed in the art of Jamaican cooking will be barbecuing jerk chicken on the grill, and the scent of it will set you crazy when you realize your time with this taste is only short lived. If you happen to look beyond that (though there’s no shame in eating jerk chicken for lunch and dinner three days straight) there’s jerk pork, escoveitch fish, conch, curry goat, rice and peas, and festival, a slightly sweet fried dumpling made with cornmeal that serves as the cherry on top of an already excellent meal. To wash all that down, get fresh coconut water, which you’ll drink straight from the coconut with a straw, or a fruit smoothie made up of mango, paw-paw (papaya) and pineapple.
What you’ll feel
Vibes, to put it most simply. Calabash is all about vibes. It’s about bringing literature to life in a way no one else does. It’s about letting those who have been gifted with the art of words share that gift with others who want to soak it up. It’s about uniting people on all levels of the social spectrum to enjoy something they can all agree on. It’s about showcasing what Jamaica has to offer in a way that has nothing at all to do with a Sandals resort. But mostly, Calabash is about beauty. Natural beauty, written beauty, communal beauty, culinary beauty, and travel—which is a beauty all its own.