PRESS RELEASE

NOBEL LAUREATE FESTIVAL CELEBRATES EXCELLENCE: VISION 20/20

Castries, St. Lucia – 8 January 2020. Saint Lucia’s Nobel Laureate Festival has been launched. The 27th year of celebrating the island’s two Nobel Laureates, Sir William 

Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize recipient for Economics, 1979 and Sir Derek Alton Walcott, for Literature, 1992, began with the naming of this year’s theme: “Celebrating Excellence: Vision 20/20”.

Revealing its sub-theme, Vision 20/20, Chair of the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee, H. E. Dame Pearlette Louisy, explained that the name is a recognition of the clarity of purpose which energized the Laureates’ work, “that vision which they both had for what was possible and what they wanted to achieve; that vision which no doubt they fine-tuned along that journey of excellence which led them to the zenith of their career and their achievements which we celebrate especially during our annual Nobel Laureate Festival.”

H. E. Dame Pearlette Louisy told the media, sponsors and invited guests who packed the Cultural Development Foundation’s Conference Room, “I am heartened, indeed delighted, at the growing interest of the Arts Sector in the Nobel Laureate Festival.  The Arts Community seems to have found a home in that celebration, judging by the increase in requests for inclusion of their events in our Programme of Activities.  We encourage and welcome their participation.”

The Nobel Laureate Festival Committee Chair thanked the partners and sponsors supporting this year’s Festival.  Among them, the Bank of Saint Lucia who contributed $10,000.00 for the Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lecture and First Citizens Investment Services Ltd (Saint Lucia) with its donation of $2,500.00 towards the Walcott Schools’ Festival.

Over 30 activities feature in this year’s Festival.  New events include a one-day workshop to design a Community History project in Laborie, the 2019 Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition Awards Ceremony, and the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College’s Race to the Morne.  The Race, scheduled for Saturday February 1 starts at the Sir Derek Walcott Square, proceeds along the La Toc Road, and ends at the College compound.

This year’s Sir Derek Walcott Memorial Lecture, entitled, “After Derek Walcott – The Saint Lucia Poetic Tradition” will be delivered by Mr Mac Donald Dixon on Tuesday 21 January, while The Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lecture, “Socio-Economic Transformation by Invitation and Innovation” will be delivered by Mr Timothy N. J. Antoine, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) on Thursday 23 January.  Both Lectures take place at the Finance Administrative Centre at Pointe Seraphine at 7:30 p.m. The customary Church Service and Breakfast will be held on Sunday 19 January, at 7:45 a.m. at the Abbey of Our Lady of the Assumption, Mount of Prayer, Coubaril. 

A programme of events can be found on Facebook page Nobel Laureate Festival: Saint Lucia or on request at info@ddmediarelations.com or text  717-7979.

For further information contact Delia Dolor, Nobel Laureate Festival Co-ordinator, delia@ddmediarelations.com | (758) 717-7979 (WhatsApp)