I woke up on my first morning in Montserrat to the most beautiful sunrise… and roosters.  I was up right on time and ready to go to the radio station then to speak at the Alliouagana Festival of the Word at the Cultural Centre, thanks to nature’s alarm clocks.

Related Post: Alliouagana Festival of the Word in Montserrat November 10-13

I packed up several copies of my book, Anancy’s Family Reunion, my laptop, and some of the Caribbean Book Club bags that I had at the Anancy Festival, and got on the van to head to the radio station with Annalee Belle, and J.D. Scott.  Nerissa Golden and two of her kids met us at the station.  You think MY kids work? Her oldest is a singer and a great photographer. You’ll hear more about them on day three.

Read about my first day in Montserrat here: Alliouagana Festival of the Word in Montserrat: Day One

While we waited for our turn to go on the air, we took selfies… a lot of selfies…

Photo credit: Nerissa Golden/Nia Golden for Discover Montserrat

J.D. Scott (Brother Vs.Brother, Property Brothers at Home, All-American Amusement Parks), Annalee Belle, and I. Photo credit: Nerissa Golden/Nia Golden for Discover Montserrat

Then we chatted about our first impressions of Montserrat and what was coming up during the festival.

After the interview, I went to the cultural center to get ready for my presentation. I figured there would be the usual conference refreshments  – coffee, tea, soft drinks – not this time. 

The hospitality room had saltfish patties, beef patties, fresh fruit, cheese sandwich, tuna sandwich, cookies, ginger beer, blackberry juice, coffee, tea… the works.

Salt fish pattie… so good.

There was blackberry juice too. Everything was amazing.

Photo credit: Nerissa Golden for Discover Montserrat

Photo credit: Nerissa Golden for Discover Montserrat

I really enjoyed sharing the story of SocaMom with the festival attendees.  We did a storytelling exercise together, and I answered questions about blogging.

After that, I headed downstairs to the book fair area to do a storytelling workshop with the kids.  We had a blast. I split the kids up into teams, they came up with their own three minute plays, and then they performed them for their families and friends.  I read a portion of Anancy’s Family Reunion, and gave each child a copy to take home in one of our Caribbean Book club backpacks.

Before the next sessions, I checked out the art exhibition by Amanda Springer.  She also had an exercise that asked us to think about how we wanted to be remembered.

Her artwork is amazing.

This was mine, “inspiring others to share their story.”

It was really nice to see how other’s would like to be remembered.

After I checked out the art, I sat in on the kids’ presentations of their apps.  There are some really great young minds in Montserrat. After the app presentation, Alan Springer presented, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Impact of the Internet” focusing on internet safety, and introducing his book, Ekidz: Mission to Cyberspace.

All of our books were on sale, including JD Scott’s brothers’ book Dream Home. During his session with Annalee Belle on Technology and Social Media in Modern branding.  They gave away one copy of the book, and presented another to the library.

After their presentation, we headed out for  sunset dinner at Time Out in Little Bay.

The view, the food, the company – everything was just wonderful.

After dinner, we headed over to Montserrat Community College in Salem for an annual outdoor spoken word event called Word Up.  Youth performed poetry, sang, and played instruments.

Alan Springer reading an inspirational poem.

Nia Golden (who also took photographs and video at the radio station) and Pulse (band formed with students from the Montserrat Secondary School) performed contemporary songs with a jazzy feel.  I recognized the young man on the keyboard as one of the ones who presented an app earlier that day – talk about multi-talented young people!  On the guitar? Nia’s younger brother. 

Day two ended with fantastic entertainment, and I had the lyrics from one of the songs that the whole crowd sang along to stuck in my head… “Montserrat IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will never forget you…”

Read about my first day in Montserrat here: Alliouagana Festival of the Word in Montserrat: Day One

For more information about the festival, photos, and more, visit the Alliouagana Festival of the Word Facebook page, or follow the hashtag, #AFWLitFest, on Instagram and Twitter.