I was despairing. I was searching the bookshops to replace copies from my Naipaul collection that were borrowed and never returned. In any real country, the bookshops would be all over themselves to outdo the other in their displays of the works of the Nobel Laureate spawned by on and on its soils who had just passed. But not here. The biggest chain had none. It only stocked one that was on the school’s booklist, I am told. After all, school books is the biggest market and reading is about commerce, eh, and well, the parents filling their children’s booklist took those so there were none left, I am told. A few others had a few copies that had lingered in the back of stock rooms, and a couple that had remained on their shelves. I dreaded to ask for the works of the other Nobel Laureate, whose primary form was poetry and drama.
I got a description from someone of what the shelves for local books in those stockrooms looked like, smaller than the little free libraries my friends were launching in different districts For The Love Of Reading.
I know from experience with my own books that one has to beg and plead with the local bookshops to stock one’s book. If one is lucky they may take one or two copies and unless one is are constantly watching their shelves once those are gone, well…
The bookshops borrow the shortsightedness of the education system and they both feed into the myopia of the society, chasing cheap paperbacks, and that only when they are in fad. I had long tried to stop shedding tears at the unending spiral or about despairing about the numbness about the institutions that are in name only. Hundreds of articles and book reviews and interviews and even a penning dozens of episodes of the television programme Booktalk and the society is yet still too deeply buried in the sands of ignorance. It is something tragic to have to add bookshops to the list of those institutions. The ones proactively promoting a culture of reading are less than the fingers on one hand.
And then I came upon this that moved me to tears. Happy tears.
One bookshop. It is not even a bookshop really, but labels iself a stationary supply store. ‘We have no other branches. This is our only one,’ the woman deputising for the owner told me. One bookshop had on its display, a tribute to the Nobel Laureate, Sir Vidia Naipaul, a photo encased, a few flowers below in reverence, and his books around. A handmade banner urges, “Support Our Local Writers”. Below the photo was what moved me even more: at the base of the photo, and surrounded with the copies of the books written by Sir Vidia Naipaul was my compendium of the literary imagination – LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction: the book hailed as the quintessential go to book for everything one wants to know about the literature of Trinidad and Tobago. How the works and thoughts of Sir Vidia Naipaul fits into and was born from and seeps into and out of the lifestyles and Landscapes of Fiction from Trinidad and Tobago.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8TgWZPuEkE&w=320&h=266]Thanks to the little corner bookshop, Signature Stationary and Business Works in the Valpark Plaza where you can get a few Naipaul books and the book that puts him and the hundred others of our fiction writers in contexts of landscapes, culture, lifestyles.
We are such a long way from the societies where bookshops are not only commercial entities but institutions of learning, relaxation and exchange, and we may never get there as the local indifference encourages and forces one to seek reading needs from online sources.
We continue our journeys into the imagination this month of Patriots, with our LiTTributes to the NaTTion in our year of LiTTributes to the LaureaTTes at home and abroad in recognition of our distinguished literary and cultural heritage.
Get your copy of LiTTscapes, and ask about LiTTours, LiTTeas and LiTTributes and how you can become a partner, sponsor or collaborator in our legacies of learning to redefining the role and function of the writer and literature in society. Join our reading revolution. See videos this page. See more in this blog and subscribe to our channels for more: Email lolleaves@gmail.com,
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video: https://youtu.be/A8TgWZPuEkE
Star Tops SEA: https://goo.gl/iNqt32
A.Bourdain and Aboud. Port of Spain and Lebanon : https://goo.gl/zwtyWq
The Walcott Files
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
a vehicle of understanding against extremism violence https://goo.gl/gpfGPp
Museum http//goo.gl/FHs3Fr
mirror https://goo.gl/pvnX9d
Fellowship of Partnerships Book 11. A Sequel Futuring the Agenda Forward https://goo.gl/HU3rp3
Nationhood in contestation with globalisation: http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/nationhood-in-contestation-with.html https://goo.gl/KWdUtx
/from-beirut-to-port-of-spain-how-west.html
Exploring a World Through MultiCultural Lenses
https://ift.tt/2veR3ei
Blackout Brets Muffled Threats and Ransoming Father: https://goo.gl/YjbBgx
affair
https://ift.tt/2haopDO
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the
Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
Inscription by UNESCO of Poems
Small only in Size UNESCO Executive
Board told
World in a Fishbowl
A Musical Heritage walk UNESCO
Creative Cities
Stone in Dana Seetahal Assassination
Creating Centres of Peace in
Trinidad and Tobago
The Price of Independence:#DanaSeetahalAssassination
Conceive. Achieve. Believe
Demokrissy: Wave a flag for a party
rag…Choosing the Emperor’s …
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor’s New Troops. The dilemma
of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice.
Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to
reform the … http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum:
The Emperor’s New Tools#1 – Demokrissy – Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor’s New Tools#1 –
Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we’ve had the rounds of
consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of
direction that will drive …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival
The Emperor’s New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor’s New Tools#2….http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds
of Political Change – Dawn of T&T’s Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have
left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand
toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed
peoples demanding a …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform,
Perform or None of the Above cross …
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local
government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in
Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in
Trinidad and Tobago in Through The …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party –
a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or
the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear
all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a
sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy:
T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The
Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian.
Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare
to Facebook …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we
party … Towards culturally …
Apr 30, 2010 ‘How we vote is not how we party.’ At ‘all
inclusive’ fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian
David Rudder’s elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of
Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of
things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative
ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in
various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political
tug of war albeit with not just …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of
constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating
the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully
wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional
stagnation but brimming over with … http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy:
Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain’t Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting
because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won!
That’s what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are
winners because we all like …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society,
and Politics in a New Age – Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in
a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society,
and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by
Kris Rampersad …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics:
A new direction? – Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor’s New Troops. The dilemma
of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice.
Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to
reform the … http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum:
The Emperor’s New Tools#1 – Demokrissy – Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor’s New Tools#1 –
Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we’ve had the rounds of
consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of
direction that will drive …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival
The Emperor’s New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor’s New Tools#2….http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds
of Political Change – Dawn of T&T’s Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have
left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand
toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed
peoples demanding a …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform,
Perform or None of the Above cross …
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local
government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in
Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in
Trinidad and Tobago in Through The …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party –
a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or
the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear
all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a
sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy:
T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The
Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian.
Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare
to Facebook …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we
party … Towards culturally …
Apr 30, 2010 ‘How we vote is not how we party.’ At ‘all
inclusive’ fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian
David Rudder’s elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of
Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of
things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative
ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in
various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political
tug of war albeit with not just …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of
constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating
the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully
wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional
stagnation but brimming over with … http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy:
Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain’t Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting
because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won!
That’s what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are
winners because we all like …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society,
and Politics in a New Age – Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in
a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society,
and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by
Kris Rampersad …http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics:
A new direction? – Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Others: Demokrissy: Old Casked Rum:
The Emperor’s New Tools#1 …
Apr 07, 2013
Old Casked Rum: The
Emperor’s New Tools#1 – Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we’ve had
the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we
have a sense of direction that will drive …
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival
The Emperor’s New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013
Valuing Carnival The
Emperor’s New Tools#2.
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Wave a flag for a party
rag…Choosing the Emperor’s New …
Oct 20, 2013
Choosing the Emperor’s
New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an … Old Casked
Rum: The Emperor’s New Tools#1 – Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T.
Posted by Kris Rampersad at 10:36 AM …
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Carnivalising the
Constitution People Power …
Feb 26, 2014
This Demokrissy
series, The Emperor’s New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of
evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the
Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political …
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Envisioning
outside-the-island-box … – Demokrissy – Blogger
Feb 10, 2014
This Demokrissy
series, The Emperor’s New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of
evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the
Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political …
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Futuring the Post-2015
UNESCO Agenda
Apr 22, 2014
It is placing
increasing pressure for erasure of barriers of geography, age, ethnicity,
gender, cultures and other sectoral interests, and in utilising the tools
placed at our disposal to access our accumulate knowledge and technologies
towards eroding these superficial barriers. In this context, we believe that
the work of UNESCO remains significant and relevant and that UNESCO is indeed
the institution best positioned to consolidate the ….. The Emperor’s New
Tools …
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Cutting edge journalism
Jun 15, 2010
The Emperor’s New
Tools. Loading… AddThis. Bookmark and Share. Loading… Follow by Email.
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