The Staging of the 13th Annual Jamaica Poetry Festival 2023

Press Release

The 13th Annual Jamaica Poetry Festival 2023 – Sunday, August 13th, 2023

Arts in Action in Support of Jamaica Society for the Blind – Poetree for Charity.

Jamaica Poetry Festival 2023 returns to our home base, the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre on Sunday, August 13th, 2023. The day starts at 10am with a family-friendly Creative Arts Workshop – Drumming and Creative Writing (10am – 2pm). This is followed an Art and Craft Exhibition (2pm – until…). The all-inclusive dinner, dubbed, Visions of Hope is between 4pm and 6pm. 100% of the proceeds will benefit the Jamaica Society for the Blind. This charitable gesture fits our theme Arts in Action. Our main event is the highly anticipated Feast of Poetree Showcase which begins at 7pm and features national and international performers from all genres and all walks of life. This is guaranteed to be amazingly awesome.

Arts in Action

“Every song is a poem set to music.” Operating with the awareness of the role of Poetry within the family of the literary, cultural and creative arts, Jamaica Poetry Festival partnered with JCDC, in 2011 for its historic inaugural staging at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre where it developed for the first 9 years of life. The inaugural event was held in celebration of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary independence. With the global pandemic in 2020, JPF adopted a virtual format for its10th anniversary and celebrated with poets from 10 countries including Iran, South Korea, Botswana (Africa), Netherlands, Canada, USA, UK, Trinidad, Barbados and of course, Jamaica. JPF 2021 was also virtual, then in 2022 we transitioned to a Virtual Hybrid format. For 2023, we are excited to announce the JPF will return to a full physical staging.

Tribute to Khalil Gibran, Miss Lou and Harry Belafonte
JPF 2023 is extremely proud to pay tribute to three legends of the arts, namely Khalil Gibran, Miss Lou and Harry Belafonte.
– Harry Belafonte was a renowned Jamerican singer, actor, and activist, who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 60s. Belafonte earned his career breakthrough with the album Calypso, which was the first million-selling LP a single artist.

– Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself rejected the title.

– Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou) renowned poet, actress, social commentator, comedienne, folklorist and singer was a beloved Jamaican who for over 50 years made significant contributions to Jamaican theatre, music, culture and literature.

Performers at JPF

Performers at JPF 2023 include Boris Gardiner, Prof Edward Baugh, Jean Lowrie Chin, Jazzy J, Author Edmond Bartlett, Dr Winsome Miller Rowe, Prof Clinton Hutton, Sotera, Dr, Emerson Henry, Ras Jaja, Calvin Mitchell, Simone Absolom Gayle, Ossie Gee and Yasus Afari, among others. We are elated to announce the addition of 10 year old Jazmin “Jazzy J” Headley to the illustrious list of performers for 2023. Jazzy is an accomplished actress, TV personality and philanthropist from Toronto, Canada. She is our Jamaica Poetry Festival 2023 International Youth Ambassador. In May, she donated J$ 60,000 to the Jamaica Society for the Blind JSB at their HQ as a signal of JPF 2023 support.

Arts and Tourism

In harmony with the global ascendancy of Poetry, evident in Poetry / Spoken Word’s recent inclusion in the Grammy Awards, Google’s feature on Miss Lou, Spotify’s declaration of poetry being the new frontier and Live Nation’s stated intention to Live Stream Poetry, among other indicators, Jamaica Poetry Festival is leading example integrating Poetry / the Creative Arts with Tourism for social responsibility nation building. All this shall become even more evident at Jamaica Poetry Festival 2023 on Sunday, August 13th, 2023.

Corporate Support

Jamaica Poetry Festival is made possible virtue of the partnership support of our performers and our sponsors – SenYAcum Edutainment, PBCJ, JCDC, TEF, JN Group, JPS, VW Investments, Free Form Factory, Flag Up Scotland Jamaica, Reggae Band Wagon, Flip the Script, IMAGES LLC, Art of Life Magazine, MGP and JTvR.Thanks for your support of Clean Intelligent Fun for the Entire Family and Community.

With Honour, Love and Poetree,
JPF 2023 Team

SenYAcum Edutainment
Living The Art of Life
Tel. 876 398 8616

https://www.facebook.com/JamaicaPoetryFestival