WADADLI PEN 2015: TEACHER CLAIMS PRIZE WITH JUSTICE

The Wadadli Pen Awards ceremony photo call: pictured, from left guest presenter and poet Dotsie Isaac Gellizeau, Olsfred James, Melicia McCalmon, Margaret Irish, Ondrej Austin-McDonald, and founder/coordinator of Wadadli Pen Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of Musical Youth and other books). Front are the two youngest prize recipients of 2015 Judah Christian, 8, and Avriel Walters, 10.

Margaret Irish, winner of the 2014 Teachers Lead by Example Prize, takes it all in 2015 with ‘Justice’, a story in which the bitterness felt by a Jamaican facing deportation from Antigua emerges as a searing inner narrative:

“The laugh erupts before I can stop it.

Now-I can talk?

Just before I’m deported to Jamaica for stealing an iPhone?”

‘Justice’ is only 199 words, just one short of the 200 limit of 2015’s Wadadli Pen Flash Fiction Challenge; but, typical of the sub-genre, it is a story fully told.

“The author of ‘Justice’ successfully completed a story,” said Floree Whyte. “You got to know the character, the reasons for their behavior and felt a connection, all in 200 words.”

Whyte (author of Pink Teacups and Blue Dresses) was part of the judging pool consisting of Monica Matthew (Journeycakes), Linisa George (When a Woman Moans), Carol Mitchell (founder of Caribbean Reads publishing) and Danielle Boodoo Fortune (longlisted for the 2015 Hollick Arvon Prize) which selected Irish’s ‘Justice’ for the win from 31 entries.

Irish’s name has joined that of past winners emblazoned on the Wadadli Pen Challenge trophy sponsored by the Best of Books. Pictured making the presentation is Gavinia Michael of Flow, one of the 2015 Wadadli Pen patrons.

Wadadli Pen took a different turn this year with its winner-take-all format. Irish’s prizes are sponsored by Flow, Raw Island Products, Art at the Ridge, CODE – sponsors of the Burt Award for Teen/Young Adult Caribbean Fiction, Bocas – administrators of the Burt Award, the Best of Books, and an anonymous donor.

But thanks to Best of Books, longtime Wadadli Pen patron and partner, some of the other promising writers were also recognized. Best of Books’ picks were Olsfred James, author of ‘Get Set, Go…’, Judah Christian, 9, author of ‘Judah and his Friends save the Day’, Ondrej Austin-McDonald, 16, who submitted an untitled entry, Avriel Walters, 10, author of Teenagers, and Melicia McCalmon, 17, author of The First Time I went to St. John’s. [CLICK HERE FOR A RUNDOWN OF WHO WON IN 2015 WITH STORY LINKS]

Antiguan and Barbudan author Joanne C. Hillhouse (Musical Youth) launched the first Wadadli Youth Pen Prize Challenge in 2004 with the goal of nurturing and showcasing the literary arts. This is the programme’s 11^th year.

To keep up with developments related to Wadadli Pen and literary life in Antigua and Barbuda, and the wider Caribbean, follow the blog – https://wadadlipen.wordpress.com

Photos courtesy of Glen Toussaint of the Best of Books.

Justice

By Margaret Irish

‘Do you have anything to say before the court sentences you?’

The laugh erupts before I can stop it.

Now-I can talk?

Just before I’m deported to Jamaica for stealing an iPhone?

After my mother had testi-lied: Your Honour, I can’t control Patrick. I have a business to run?

The same mother who ran away after my birth to become a respectable Antiguan citizen?

Listen: the day before my first CXC exam at Jamaica College I came home to a strange woman cursing my Granny Pearl-My one-son not going no gay art school! Next morning I’m standing outside Wadadli Academy with a basket, selling food to students calling me ‘foreigner.’

I needed money for a one-way ticket back to Granny Pearl, ten CXCs, art school- sanity. All I had to do was murder 16 years of my granny’s preaching, then pinch Harry Jarvis’s phone from his pocket while he was contemplating fungi or meatball.

I feel the spectators behind me panting, drooling, so I continue cackling.

‘You are wasting our time! Do you have anything to say?’

‘No.’

On the plane, I try re-assembling my mind. One piece murmurs, kiss Granny Pearl goodbye; another piece prods, get a gun….

Margaret Irish, moments after the announcement, reading her winning story during the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize 2015 Awards Ceremony.

Margaret Irish is the overall winner of the Wadadli Pen 2015 Flash Fiction Challenge. She was winner, in 2014, of the Lead by Example Teachers Prize and subsequently participated in the CODE sponsored writing workshop facilitated by Joanne C. Hillhouse. Irish says her writings analyze her life experiences to live a more purposeful future; she also writes about the impact of parental migration on children.

Irish collecting certificates from one of the Wadadli Pen 2015 patrons, Flow, represented by Gavinia Michael.

See Winner’s Announcement with breakdown of prizes and other winners.

Photos courtesy the Best of Books.

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