For the second consecutive year, Dr Timothy Hodge has won Malliouhana Poetry’s Rev Dr Wycherley Gumbs Award for Creative Non-Fiction, with Sharleen Gumbs securing second place.
Stella Gumbs, the widow of the late Rev Dr Gumbs presented the awards to the winners at the Annual Emancipation Lecture on 24 July.
Hodge’s winning submission ‘Leaving the Island’ outlines the social and economic trends associated with migration and the ways it has shaped many Anguillian expressions and activities.
It zones in on the evolution of migration from the days of early settlers to the arrival of tourists in the present day, a statement from the Malliouhana Poetry Committee said.
Emphasis is placed on the resilience of the Anguillian people through a social, cultural and economic lens.
Gumbs’ entry, ‘My Cultural Icon’, highlights the realities of life in Anguilla without modern day amenities and provides details of local cultural aspects.
She examined the life of a cultural icon, and the impacts that church, cooking, sewing and sports have on the development of culture.
“Through this reflection, traditions were passed down and the importance of community and togetherness were portrayed,” the Malliouhana Poetry Committee said.
The Malliouhana Poetry Committee organises the Rev Dr Wycherley Gumbs Award for Creative Non-Fiction as a tribute to the life and work of the late Rev Dr Wycherley Gumbs.
In addition to his work in theology, his artistry in poetry and discipline in academic work, he was also an insightful socio-political analyst whose prose was simultaneously poetic, political and pan African.
“Whether theological, academic or poetic, his work was largely directed to issues related to personal and national emancipation, self-hood, authenticity, culture and creativity,” the post said.
The Malliouhana Poetry Competition, first launched in 2007, was conceptualised to encourage literacy and artistic expression, as well as to promote an ethos of social, cultural, and political awareness.
The University of the West Indies Open Campus Anguilla organises the event in collaboration with the Anguilla Library Service, the Department of Youth and Culture and the Anguilla Community College.
