These Bermudians Have ‘The Write Stuff’
A growing number of Bermudians have what might be called “the write stuff” and are no longer allowing the island’s inherent conservatism to mute their voices.
In a major essay in Canada’s online “Numero Cinq” magazine, Saskatchawan-based Bermudian writer Kim Aubrey discusses the flowering of the island’s literary talent in recent decades.
“Whether from within the closeness of the island community or from the distance of exile, Bermudian writers have begun to embrace their role as artists— ‘to reveal a society to itself’ and to ‘reply… honestly: ‘This is what I think of this’ ..,” said Ms Aubrey.
Ms Aubrey profiles a wide array of contemporary Bermuda writers and poets including Ronald Lightbourne, Chris Astwood, Jane Downing, Ruth Thomas, Alan C. Smith, Wendy Fulton Steginsky, Nancy Anne Miller, Kim Dismont Robinson, Dane Swan, Andra Simons, Veejay Steede, Nick Hutchings, Paul Maddern, Laurel Monkman, Llewella Rewan-Dowling, Saskia Wolsak, Tiffany Paynter and the late Jeremy Frith.
Bermudian spoken word poet Tiffany Paynter:
“When I was growing up on the island in the sixties and seventies, I didn’t know of any Bermudian writers,” she said. “The poems, novels and plays we read in school had all been written by dead white British men, and in my final year of high school, one or two living Americans, like Ken Kesey.
“No one told us about Kesey’s Bermudian contemporary, Brian Burland, who was writing and publishing gritty, honest novels about Bermuda from a self-imposed exile in England and then the US, before returning home in the nineties. The conservatism of the small island would have made it impossible for him to write as freely if he’d stayed there.”
Ms Aubrey cites from Bermuda Folklife Officer Dr. Dismont Robinson’s introduction to the Bermuda Anthology of Poetry in which she gives an explanation for Bermudians’ difficulty in writing poetry and fiction about their lives and their homeland: ”Like many other small islands dependent upon tourism and international business, Bermuda has often viewed itself from the outside-in.
“Ever dependent upon the whims of a foreign market, Bermudians have been conditioned to examine our environment in a manner that takes the form of an external measurement. We are far more likely to ask ‘What might an Other think of this?’ than to ask ‘What do I think of this?’
“Such a fundamental point of perspective greatly affects how we view the world as well as how, when, and if we choose to express ourselves. Our conservatism has its roots in this behaviour, and might explain why as a nation our authors are far more likely to try their hand at writing historical narrative rather than poetry or prose fiction.”
Bermudian poet Ron Lightbourne reading his work at Chewstick:
Kim Aubrey grew up in Bermuda but now lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
She is a writer, editor, and artist with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her watercolours have been exhibited in galleries, and her writing has appeared in such publications as “Best Canadian Stories”, “The New Quarterly” and “Event”.
She recently completed a memoir, “The Girl in the Blue Leotard” and leads an annual retreat to Bermuda for writers and artists.
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