In the South Side community of Downtown Kingston, I recently witnessed this gentleman (see video above), who goes by the name Loyal, scraping the calabash fruit. After the insides have been removed, the next step is washing and drying and then ta da! you have nature’s most perfect eating vessel. Seeing him do this made me think of the Calabash Literary Festival.
This year (2020) the festival will take place between May 29 – 31. I highly recommend it. In addition to incredible Jamaican and Caribbean authors, the festival has been able to pull major international literary celebrities, from Salman Rushdie to Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. If you love books this is time well spent, and with the hypnotic background of the Caribbean sea lapping the shores at Treasure Beach, there are worse way to spend a weekend. Like the literal calabash, the festival serves up a meal perfect for book lovers.
I love books, I love reading. This year being a Calabash year Jamaica Cultural Enterprises is going to revel in literature. We will be providing transportation for a select few to go down on Saturday, May 30 with return on May 31. We are also planning literary themed tours of Kingston in the days before and after Calabash. WATCH THIS SPACE. We will make announcements in the weeks and months to come.
To find our more about the festival itself you can check their web page or social media feeds. We hope to see all our book loving friends there.
