Press Release BBC World Service Short Story Competition Winner ...

12 East Street,
P.O. Box 823
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel: 876) 967-1526, 967-2516; 967-2494;
967-2496
Fax: (876) 922-556
Email: nlj@nlj.gov.jm Website: w.nlj.gov.jm
Press Release
BBC World Service Short Story Competition Winner Donates Copy his Book to The
National Library of Jamaica.
Kingston, April 18, 2012- Nigerian writer Adrian Igoni Barrett son of Jamaican novelist and poet Lindsay
Barrett donated a copy of his first book, From Caves of Rotten Teeth, to the National Library of Jamaica.
The 33 year old writer who walked away with the BBC World Service short story competition in 2005
was delighted to make the donation at the offices of National Library of Jamaica downtown Kingston.
Explaining what inspires him to write Mr. Barrett said: “I am curious about life, I write because I have
something to say about the world, also because writing is about putting forward questions.” The title
of his book From Caves of Rotten Teeth is a line that he took from a poem written by Trinidadian painter
and poet Leroy Clarke. “That resonated with me,” Barrett said of why he chose the title for the book.
Explaining his work Barrett also added that “the book deals with Nigerian characters, the effect of the
environment in Nigeria. I wanted to explore certain questions about poverty, love, and what it means to
be a Nigerian.”
Mrs. Winsome Hudson Executive Director of the National Library of Jamaica welcomed the young writer
and urged more writers, publishers and entertainers to make donations or to deposit copies of their
intellectual properties to the National Library of Jamaica under the Legal Deposit Act.
Mrs. Hudson said:
“Everybody knows the National Library of Jamaica for history, but we are about literature and collecting
literature. I encourage all writers, publishers who have not yet donated a copy of their works to the
National Library of Jamaica to do so like our young Nigerian writer Igonibo Barrett.”
The literary journey of Mr. Barrett who was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria to a Nigerian mother and a
Jamaican father could be described has one with much experience. As a child he read a lot and his
mother read to him.
A year after copping the BBC World Service short story competition he co-founded the online literary
journal Blackbiro and by 2007 he joined the editorial team of Farafina Magazine where he was
managing editor until 2009.
Mr. Barrett affectionately called Igoni shortening for his middle name Igonibo has been invited to
participate in various literary festivals around the world, Igoni was also the founding organizer of the
BookJam reading series in Lagos, Nigeria, which featured the writers Jude Dibia, Michela Wrong among
others.
Mr. Barrett is making his second visit to Jamaica as his first was in February of this year when he
attended the Two Seasons Talking Trees Literary Festival held in Treasure Beach St. Elizabeth.
For Adrian Igonibo Barrett writing, it seems will never end, his new collection of stories entitled Love Is
Power, Or Something Like That, is due to be published in the UK and US soon.

12 East Street,
P.O. Box 823
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel: 876) 967-1526, 967-2516; 967-2494;
967-2496
Fax: (876) 922-556
Email: nlj@nlj.gov.jm Website: w.nlj.gov.jm

12 East Street,
P.O. Box 823
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel: 876) 967-1526, 967-2516; 967-2494;
967-2496
Fax: (876) 922-556
Email: nlj@nlj.gov.jm Website: w.nlj.gov.jm