News – Page 2 – Alliouagana Festival of the Word

Greenaway, Sharmen

Sharmen Greenaway has a passion for writing, inspiring and motivating others through the written and spoken word. She is a prolific writer and Amazon Bestselling author with more than 22 books to her name. She was an editor for the online magazine, Focus of New York for two years.
Sharmen is a Specialist Nurse with expertise in Neurology and Continuing Health Care in London. Her academic history includes studies at Masters and Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and Health Studies at the City University and London Metropolitan University in London, Registered Nurse in Montserrat and Mental Health Nursing in Jamaica
including advanced counselling in St Lucia and family and group Counseling 101 at the University of Tampa Florida. She is a Certified Public Speaker and popular presenter at spiritual events in London including annual ladies day events and retreats. She is also a Certified Life Skills Coach (USA).
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Thomas, Chavel

Chavel Thomas is a 26 year old Antiguan. He’s an avid photographer as well as a lifestyle & culture content curator.

On a daily basis you will find him either creating creative imagery using things you can find at home or conceptual photographing others at various locations.

www.chavdakid.com

Session: 2020 AFWLITFEST – Using Social Media to Activate Change

King, Ronelle

Ronelle King is an Afro-Barbadian human rights activist and intersectional Caribbean feminist. In 2016, she founded the viral social media movement #lifeinleggings, which later evolved into a grassroots organisation, Life In Leggings: Caribbean Alliance Against Gender-based Violence through Education, Empowerment & Community Outreach. As Director, her role is to ensure that the organisation fulfils its commitment to reducing the region’s pervasive rape culture and helping to eradicate regional occurrences of gender-based violence.

In 2019, she co-founded Pink Parliament, an initiative which encourages girls between the ages of 14-20 to consider careers in politics. Through her work, she has been a driving force in highlighting key issues pertaining to gender rights, youth development and the protection of marginalised communities. She views her work as helping to create an inclusive, sustainable and equitable region for all.

She was awarded the 2017 Youth Hero (Female) Award by the Barbados Youth Development Council and the 2018 Queen’s Young Leader Award by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, in acknowledgement of her dedication to reducing gender inequality in her country and region.

https://www.facebook.com/officiallifeinleggings
https://www.instagram.com/officiallifeinleggings
https://www.twitter.com/theofficiallil
https://www.facebook.com/parliamentpink
https://www.instagram.com/parliamentpink
https://www.twitter.com/parliamentpink
https://www.instagram.com/iamxilomen
https://www.twitter.com/iamxilomen

Session: 2020 AFWLITFEST – Using Social Media to Activate Change

Wilson, Eden (Vlogger)

The youngest competitor in the 2020 Miss Chicago’s Outstanding Teen Competition at just 13, Eden Wilson won the Interview Award, Entrepreneurship Award, Miracle Maker Award, and the People’s Choice Award, and is currently serving as Miss Chicago’s Outstanding Teen 2020 (teen competition within the Miss America System).

She is a champion rhythmic gymnast, owner of the Lemonerdy.com shop and YouTube channel, a 9th grade Honor Roll student, avid writer and coder. She has performed monologues on television and at the Kennedy Center, winning the Executive Producer’s Choice Award for Best Female Performance.

She has appeared on WUSA 9’s Great Day Washington, Washington Full Circle on DCN, and Good Day DC on Fox 5. Eden was also invited to BlackDoctor.org to discuss her prostate cancer awareness and early detection platform with physicians on Facebook Live for their over 2 million followers.

Her goal is to inspire everyone to share their stories and pursue their dreams by sharing her various hobbies and talents from reading, coding, and trying interesting foods to making crafts, cooking, and hanging out with her friends.

While prostate cancer awareness is the cause to which she dedicates the bulk of her advocacy, she also has made videos promoting voting, coronavirus safety, and healthy eating.

If Eden looks familiar to you, maybe you saw her several years ago on Season One of Lifetime’s Child Genius when she was just eight years old. Today, she is a fourteen-year-old who enjoys working out virtually with her friends, baking muffins, and tutoring kids in reading. This self-described “renaissance girl” says that her aspiration is to “do all the things,” and to encourage her generation to live life fully.

Enter the MVO Creative Competition for #AFWLITFEST

Unrest in Montserrat is the theme of this year’s creative competition sponsored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

The MVO in partnership with the Alliouagana Festival of the Word is offering cash prizes and the opportunity for winners to be featured during this year’s virtual event slated for November 20 – 22, 2020.

The competition encourages participants to share their stories of the island during the period of volcanic eruptions which began in 1995. The Soufrière Hills volcano eruption caused or exacerbated distresses and vulnerabilities within the community, and promoted social and political unrest, such as: Read More

Weekes, Yvonne (PhD.)

Dr Yvonne Weekes is currently a lecturer in Theatre at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. She started her teaching career in London in 1980 where she taught English and Drama. Returning to her parents’ homeland of Montserrat she continued her love for Theatre forming the Rainbow Theatre Company which performed at several cultural events across the Caribbean.
She was the first Director of Culture in Montserrat and worked extensively in the region as an actress, Theatre Director and spoken word poet. Since moving to Barbados over 24 years ago as a direct result of the volcanic crisis in Montserrat, she has continued to work as writer and has published three full length works one of which Volcano one the Frank Collymore Award in 2004 and was later published by Peepal Tree Press in Leeds, UK. Nomad, her first
collection of poems, was published by the House of Nehesi was published in 2019 and launched in St. Maarten. She enjoys learning new art forms and was awarded best Director for her first short film Grief by the Barbados Video and Film Association awards in 2019.

Joseph, Danny (PhD.)

Daniel Joseph hails from Harris Village where he sat at the feet of teachers of the St. George’s Primary School. Following masquerade to Town he attended the Montserrat Secondary School (MSS) after which he caught a LIAT return flight to Barbados. There, at UWI Cave Hill Campus, he did an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Mathematics.

Back in Montserrat he lectured in a variety of subjects at the Montserrat Secondary School (MSS) and Montserrat Community College (MCC)—in addition to being a speech writer for the Debating Society. He eventually crossed the Atlantic for postgraduate studies in the UK, culminating in a PhD in Business and Management.

He is currently a Fintech researcher and has authored multiple patents in the fields of digital currencies and machine learning. He writes as a hobby, with the emphasis being on capturing Montserrat history through personalities and the minutiae of life.

Richards, Jo-Annah

Jo-Annah Richards has been writing poetry since the age of ten and the release of her poetry collection “Beautiful Chaos” is the result of passion and perseverance. Her first book was The Ill Concepts of the Caribbean Woman. She has a passion for writing and regularly expresses it through creating speeches, poetry, short stories and proses.

Her love for the Creative Arts extends to drama, dance and music, which led her to create Fenyx Creations in 2015. The organisation’s objective is female empowerment and pageantry development, which is facilitated through providing trainings and workshops for young girls. Jo-Annah knows the benefits and impact of self-expression; as well gaining personal development and life skills. The organisation also allows her to be creative as she utilises her skills to conceptualise the annual pageant and related events.

She is guided by the principle that you are able to achieve anything through passion and perseverance.

Follow the author on Instagram: @joannah14 | Facebook: @joannahrichardsauthor

Groeneveldt, Tamara

Tamara Groeneveldt is an emerging poet from St. Martin. With her first book, “After the Storm” currently being in its second publication, it was labeled as a best seller.

Groeneveldt has performed on the same stage as famous Caribbean authors and storytellers such as Paul Keens Douglas at the 2019 Carifesta in Trinidad Tobago. She has recited her poetry at national St. Martin’s Day activities and other events attended by the island’s officials including the King and Queen of the Netherlands. Groeneveldt hopes that one day every household and school in St. Martin will own a copy of After the Storm to ensure that the St. Martin literature, story, traditions and culture lives on.

Follow the author on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tamaragroeneveldt

Follow the author on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/poetthatspeaks

Montserrat’s 2020 Alliouagana Festival of the Word Goes Virtual

BRADES, Montserrat – The 12th edition of the Alliouagana Festival of the Word will be its first virtual experience. Slated for November 20-22, 2020, the literary event has brought to the island many notable authors since its inception. This year, authors, artists and ARTivists will join the conversation virtually to explore the theme Words & Art in Activism.

Some of the activities slated for the event and the days leading up to it, include Good Night Montserrat, a storytelling showcase by notable Montserratian figures, who will read books curated by Caribbean Reads, a regional publishing company. Other highlights will be workshops on Writing a Children’s Book with Carol Mitchell, Effective Book Promotion Strategies with expert LaShaunda Hoffman, and Using Social Media for Change with several cultural and social influencers.