President of the Turks and Caicos Islands Writers Society Dr. Barbara Ambrister believes that the next Bestseller, Pulitzer Prize, Screen Writer is somewhere in the Turks and Caicos Islands just waiting to uncover.
Delivering the main address at the launch of the body on Monday at the Caribbean Elements, Le Vele in Grace Bay, Providenciales, Ambrister, whose latest book: ‘Finding Me in Scriptures’, said the job of the TCI Writers Society is to unearth such talent.
She said the vision to create the organization whose aim is to nurture and facilitate upcoming and existing writers, was born out of an early morning conversation with another local author and District Commissioner for North Caicos, Cynclair Musgrove, who serves as the body’s Vice President.
“She started talking to me about something that has been stirring in my spirit. And this is the result of that conversation,” Ambrister revealed. “Cynclair and I decided that we would move forward, having written all these books.
“We decided that we wanted everyone, who was in the same predicament as we were to have the exposure and for this to become a national thing, that we get the recognition and that Turks and Caicos Islanders become aware of the treasures that we have.”
The Writers Society President insisted that we must allow our children to dream of other careers, not just the ones she described as standard.
“Not the standard ones, not the traditional ones, but we must help our children to reach beyond our borders.
“I believe a Pulitzer Prize is in the Turks and Caicos. I believe that our next Tyler Perry, screenwriter is here. I believe that I have a best seller. And so, we must change our children’s dream, and we must not place limitations on our children when our children say, ‘I want to write’,” she encouraged.
Ambrister noted that some might harbour the thought that to write a book takes certain extraterrestrial ability.
“But there is no magic to it. The beauty of writing is that you have something to say. But do you know that we all have something to say? Every one of us have something to say,” she pointed out.
She disclosed that her book was inspired by the quest to find herself in the Bible, which initially she did not see. She said while ‘Finding Myself in Scriptures’ contains many Bible verses, it is not a Christian book, but a journal that ‘speaks real talk’.
She said one of the main goals of the Turks and Caicos Islands Writers Society is to encourage all categories of writing.
“We really want to encourage diversity. We want to encourage writing from every spectrum…everybody, anybody. And so, one of the major things we are going to do off the bat this semester is to begin writing seminars with our children,” she pointed out.
The event, which was chaired by authors Claudette Clare of New Age Book Centre and Kordell Campbell-Forbes, Principal for the Louise Garland Thomas High School, was endorsed by Member of Parliament for Blue Hills Hon. Randy Howell and Hon. Kyle Knowles, Member of Parliament for Wheeland.
Both government officials who weighed in on the event launch, lauded not only the conceptualizers of the organization, but also the writers. They also encouraged authorship amongst Turks and Caicos Islanders.
Many authors were also present at the event. Among them Jas Walkin, Dr. Anya Malcolm-Gibbs, Davanya Deveaux and Peggy Been.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Writers Society executive body comprises of President - Dr Barbara Ambrister; Vice President - Cynclair Musgrove; Treasurer - Mr Drexwell - Seymour; Secretary - Claudette Clare; Asst Secretary; Kordell Forbes; Asst Treasurer Ms Rachel Gregory; Public Relations - Jas Walkin; and Asst Public Relations - Rachel Harvey.
Membership buttons were pinned on all founding members.
Below are some highlights.