Shanique Sinclair’s Book Fairy Festival brings magic of books to life
Published:Friday | July 26, 2024 | 12:07 AMKwela Cole/Gleaner Writer
Shanique Sinclair is ‘Shanz the Book Fairy’, spreading her long-harboured love of literature to her Instagram followers and members of her Friday Night Bookish Lyme Book Club. Unsatisfied with the existing reading culture in Jamaica, the bibliophile has decided to take amplifying the space into her own hands with the first annual Book Fairy Festival, a reading and literature festival and the event of her dreams. For three days beginning on July 25, The Summit in New Kingston will come alive with the magic of storybooks, culminating in a can’t-miss masquerade ball on July 27. Sinclair invites all Jamaicans to attend the festival, promising fun and imagination-filled activities and events for the entire family.
The time was now for a fresh take on a reading-centred event in Jamaica for Sinclair, who cites the country’s laser focus on academic reading rather than including recreational reading as a potential catalyst for the country’s rampant crime and violence. The book influencer believes that encouraging an interest in books, where readers can explore skills like conflict resolution and emotional intelligence through characters living dynamic lives, can only result in better conflict resolution and a better quality of life for Jamaicans.
“When you have better mental health in Jamaica, a lot of socio-cultural elements become better. When you think of the benefits of reading and how personal development takes place, you think about how emotional intelligence can be received from reading. When I think about the reading culture in Jamaica, it is so academic. People are just swatting information as a means to an end. What if you could read for enjoyment and benefit from it? That’s the reason why I thought to start a festival here in Jamaica that is inclusive and would appeal to everybody, no matter the reading stage they are at.”
All aspects of the reading experience will be explored at The Book Fairy Festival. Over three days, patrons will engage with a hand-selected group of local and international authors spanning multiple genres, in panel conversations, book signings and writing workshops, psychologist-led sessions in mindfulness, storytelling sessions and yoga classes. Other attractions include an artisan village featuring local businesses, a book store and a food village. “We want to be able to appeal to a wide variety of people through a diverse variety of genres,” Sinclair shares.
Attendees of the Book Fairy Festival will not only be stimulated mentally but visually as well. Sinclair describes the effect of the décor of her event as akin to stepping into a whole new world. The Summit will be set with giant mushrooms and butterflies in keeping with the literature festival’s enchanted world theme created to match the social media fairy persona of Sinclair, based on a nickname given to her by a close friend. The goal of the event curator is to simulate the feeling of getting lost in a book. The Book Fairy Festival’s colourful approach will appeal not only to book lovers but also to their children, the avid readers of tomorrow. Sinclair, in seeking to prioritise fostering a love of literature in Jamaicans, wants to put a focus on the younger generation. Her festival will include a designated kid’s village with age-curated activities and workshops.
“What about our kids? If we can reach the kids with enjoying reading from early [in their development], we can create a lifelong reader. So they will be able to be a part of our children’s village which will have kid’s literature guided paint and sips, chalk drawing, journalling and vision boarding. All the things that incorporate reading, literature, self-care, wellness and mental health.”