Acclaimed literary figures have, from 1993, delivered lectures in Sir Derek Walcott’s honour.

The Cultural Development Foundation (CDF), in collaboration with the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee (NLFC) is pleased to present the 2017 Derek Walcott Lecture—the 24th commemoration, saluting Saint Lucia’s two Nobel Laureates.

Nobel Laureate Week was inaugurated to celebrate the achievements of the island’s accomplished sons: Sir Arthur Lewis, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1979; and Sir Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.

In Saint Lucia, Jan. 23 is celebrated as Nobel Laureate Day, as both laureates share the same birth date—Lewis was born in 1915, and Walcott in 1930.

Acclaimed literary figures have, from 1993, been invited to deliver lectures in Sir Derek Walcott’s honour. They have included Rosanna Warren (2016), Raoul Peck (2015), Caryl Phillips (2014) and Sudeep Sen (2013).

This year’s Derek Walcott Lecture will be presented by Antigua born, Jamaica Kincaid. Kincaid is an essayist and novelist whose body of work has been well documented and spans 1983 to the present, among them "A Small Place" (1988), "My Brother" (1997) and "See Now Then" (2013).

The professor of African and American Studies in Residence at Harvard University will deliver a lecture titled "Our Homer: Derek Walcott" on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the National Cultural Centre. Following the lecture, members of the audience will engage in a discussion and participate in the creation of a word collage during a meet and greet session.

On January 23, Professor Kincaid will meet with Literature teachers to dialogue on “Literature, the Writer, and the Work.” This event, collaborated by the CDF and the CAMDU Language and Theatre Arts Department, will take place at Walcott House on Chaussee Road, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.