Meet a Trini

MARINA SALANDY-BROWN

By Harmony Farrell

“I am a complete Trini,” affirms Marina Salandy-Brown “and the wonderful thing about the Caribbean is that so much is possible.” Indeed, she has flexed her propensity for making realities out of possibilities.

In 2011, the inaugural Bocas Lit Fest, executed in under six months was an immediate success - attracting 3500 “bums on seats” for four days of events. It has since risen to prominence as one of the leading events of its kind in the Anglophone Caribbean. The expertise taken to lead this team is a sum of Marina’s expansive experience.

It started with a culturally-rich childhood. Marina’s weekdays were spent between home in Diego Martin and school in Port of Spain, while her family spent the weekends experiencing another world of Trinidad in Toco, or whichever pastoral outpost that her father, an agronomist, was managing at the time. The immersion in village life shaped her understanding of people and culture. As a curious child in a generation where inquisitiveness was considered an affront, Marina found her answers in books, which further broadened the parameters of her mind.

A tenacious and rebellious spirit has taken Marina from strength to strength. From the age of seventeen, she lived on her own in Britain. At nineteen, an immigrant still with no advanced qualifications but armed with great selfassurance, she became an editor in British publishing. She later attended university in Britain, Egypt and Mexico, spoke fluent Arabic and Spanish, and amassed twenty years of work in BBC broadcasting, before returning to Trinidad on an early retirement. Throughout it all, Marina carried a distinctive Trinbagonian sensibility that opened many doors for her abroad.

After eleven years at the helm, she has now handed over the responsibility of the festival, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, and Bocas’ many literary projects to a team that she trusts and leaves to do the “necessary worrying”, and continue the work.

“Bocas is not really Marina. For things to survive, they must be bigger than just one person. If you’re invested in the output and the objective of something, you can’t make it yours. You have to give it to other people.” Now as President of the NGO’s board of directors, she relishes the fact that her sprawling to-do list has shortened. The workings of the festival are now handled by a younger generation of movers and shakers who straddle the arts and the administration - led by the likes of Nicholas Laughlin and Jean Claude Cournand.

The NGC Bocas Lit Fest’s workshops and events have empowered readers, writers, publishers and performers. Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, one of the UK Observer’s 10 best debut novelists in 2022 candidly credits the festival for the start of her success. As for myself, what Marina calls a ‘Bocas baby’, I have attended numerous events from high school years into adulthood, and most recently been given the honour of the Youth Writer Award for 2021.

The festival has pivoted seamlessly into the virtual environment, and shows no sign of stopping. Marina Salandy-Brown has no doubt that this organization will continue to thrive for decades to come. “I’m sure other things are going to come my way. I’m still young and I’m still energetic. I’m looking forward to them. Bring it on, really!”