Lead Editor-Newsgathering
ryan.bachoo@cnc3.co.tt
In Standard Three, Jewel Greene-George was taken to the public library in Arima by her mother. She loved reading. She even had a shelf full of books at her home. Yet, nothing could prepare her for what she was about to experience.
When Greene-George received her library card, she excitedly asked, “Is this for real? I could come here every Saturday and borrow books?” Her mother had to ask her to lower her voice in all the excitement.
Perhaps it was providential. In 2023, Greene-George became the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Writers Guild. Her love for books has stayed with her all her life. She recalled to the Sunday Guardian’s Women’s Empowerment (WE) magazine last week how her formative years were shaped by books.
“My mother told me books are the only thing that would keep me quiet. She said she would put on the TV, especially Sesame Street, but the only thing that would work for me was a book. I couldn’t read at that time, but she would give me the encyclopaedia and the medical books, and I would be quiet for hours,” Greene-George said in an interview last week.
Her mother suspected she had an affinity for books from an early age because of the careful way Greene-George would turn the pages. As she grew into a reader, she would take some fruits, take the hammock or go to the backyard and sit under a mango tree where she spent hours reading.
“I felt like that was the time I started coming into my own as a reader. I’ve always enjoyed books. I love books. I love the smell of books. I love the possession of books. I feel like this is something magical,” Greene-George said.
She moved to Tobago in 2016, having lived in Barbados for 11 years before that. Wherever she went, books went with her. Greene-George would join the T&T Writers Guild “merely to participate”. The organisation needed help with its marketing, and so, she took on that task. As time went on, members of the guild wanted her to serve in a bigger way–as president. It was a big ask for someone who joined the guild without the intention of having any roles. Greene-George would answer the call.
She would aim to fill a major void in local publishing while also helping authors find their way in a complex book industry.
She explained, “I came to realise we have a very huge gap. A lot of publishers focus on helping people write their books, but nobody is going the distance after you’ve written the book to talk about how to market the book. I thought that was a space I could help with.”
Greene-George would go on to help scores of people who had books but couldn’t get them seen. She would do this voluntarily. However, she often came across writers who preferred to let their books take the spotlight rather than themselves.
But Greene-George would also see another major gap in the local book industry. Self-published authors didn’t have the resources like those who had publishers.
She explained, “The guild is hoping to fill that gap, being that machine for self-published authors. We want to put on events allowing self-published authors to sell their books, to be visible and to participate in activities where they can be visible.”
Greene-George has partnered with the Logos Hope and held webinars where writers can be part of the conversation. “We want to provide that opportunity for a self-published author to have that same help that the traditional publishing machines offer.”
T&T has a history of internationally recognised writers, including Michael Anthony, Samuel Selvon and Nobel laureate Sir VS Naipaul. While this raises the country’s image in the writing world, Greene-George said sometimes self-published authors can often suffer because of it, as they can’t nail down a publisher.
“We have a very robust history and legacy of award-winning writers, but those are traditionally published writers. If we are honest and we look at the difference between the self-published writers and authors who have publishers, the dichotomy is quite large,” she said.
Last Wednesday, the world marked World Book and Copyright Day—an occasion designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to celebrate the power of books and the importance of copyright. Held on April 23, the date also commemorates the passing of William Shakespeare and other prominent authors.
Reading is an area Greene-George would like to see more T&T citizens pay attention to. She explained, “We have to focus on literacy. It is easy for a person who is literate to say we need to read more, but I don’t think we have scratched the surface on our level of literacy, and I think that’s one of the key reasons why people aren’t reading a lot.”
She said that while many people can write their names and read them, the country needs to move to a higher level of literacy—one that involves critical reading, analysing what’s being read, truly understanding it, and applying that understanding.
As president of the Writers Guild, Greene-George will continue guiding self-published authors through the writing world while also reigniting a love for reading across T&T—especially among those who need it most.