Though there are many Virgin Islands writers, their number has declined with time, Chief Records Management Officer Christopher Varlack said during a panel discussion Thursday at the 1780 Lower Estate Sugar Works Museum.
The cause of that trend and ideas for changing it were among the topics discussed at the event, which was part of the VI Writings Exhibition on display through this month.
Mr. Varlack joined curator Ermin Penn and publisher Russell Harrigan, who is the owner of this newspaper, on the panel.
Ideas they discussed included local writing competitions; the importance of encouraging writers to address the territory’s culture; and ways to promote reading among VI youth.
“Our students, I find, are not inspired by those foreign textbooks that we bring in,” said Dr. Patricia Turnbull, a lecturer at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College and an organiser of the event. “They need to hear their language; they need to see images they are familiar with, and I think we will be generating more interest.”
See the Feb. 27, 2014 edition for full coverage.
{fcomment}