Welcome and thanks for your interest!
The Gloria Lyn Literary Circle was born out of desire to promote the love of literature, reading and the spoken word. All graduates who are interested are invited to share thei ideas and suggestions, to meet others interested in "things literary" virtually in this space and to enjoy the new dimensions added to their lives through the appreciation of literature. The late Gloria Lyn was a lecturer in the Department of Literatures in English at the UWI and influenced and guided students and graduates from all over the Caribbean, many of whom are not involved in careers that would traditionally be considered by graduates of Literature. Her daughters, Cathy and Marjanne, have set up the Gloria Lyn Memorial Prize in her honour to encourage and promote the LOVE of Literature. Donations to the Gloria Lyn Memorial Prize are welcome!
"We created the Gloria Lyn Memorial Fund at The University of the West Indies to celebrate the efforts of Gloria Lyn and all past students who have used the opportunity that The University of the West Indies has provided them to transform their lives and those around them through the study of literature." - Cathy and Marjanne Lyn
The Gloria Lyn Prize for West Indian Literature will be awarded annually starting in November 2014. This will be a prize of US$500 and it will go to the second year student with the highest marks in any of the West Indian Literature courses at Mona. We anticipate adding an annual scholarship when sufficient funds accumulate.
Gloria influenced many of her students both in the lecture hall and in their personal lives. She stimulated their minds in the classroom by encouraging her students to think for themselves. She offered help and advice with career choices and she "mothered" her students, particularly those who were far from home for the first time.
We hope that you will join us in keeping her legacy alive for the students who will one day excel in English and West Indian Literature and who will in turn, pass on her appreciation and love of literature.
To get involved join us at the Gloria Lyn Literary Circle or click here to make a donation to the Gloria Lyn Memorial Prize.
The Advisory Board : We have established an Advisory Board to guide the planning of literary events, build the Gloria Lyn Literary Circle and monitor the Fund. This board comprises:
- Cathy Lyn - Gloria's daugher
- Marjanne Lyn - Gloria's daugher
- Dr. Michael Bucknor - Public Orator - UWI Mona Campus and one of Gloria's past students
- The Reverend Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones - Priest for Pastoral Care and Community/Staff Vestry Chaplin Trinity Wall Street NY and one of Gloria's past students
- Celia Davidson Francis - Director of Alumni Relations for the UWI
2019 is a year that is focused on raising the visibility of literature at UWI.
We are pleased to report that over USD2000 has been raised so far. The GLMF opened Talking Trees Literary fiesta 25 May 2019 for the third time. Two Seasons Talking Trees Literary Fiesta was held on May 25, 2019 at Two Seasons Guest House in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth. Organised in collaboration with the Department of Literatures in English (DLIE) at the Mona Campus of The University of the West Indies and the Gloria Lyn Memorial Fund (GLMF), the Fiesta is a family-oriented day, immersing participants in the written and spoken word.. This year the thrust was to encourage the participation of young people, complemented by the readings of established writers. On 20 June 2019 put on a Literary event at Arvo Coffee in the Distillery District, Toronto which was our first formal Canadian event.
In July we participated in the Campus Kids 2019 reunion and on 7 September we join with DLIE to meet with undergraduate and post graduate students to discuss the difficult job market for literature graduates and to see how we can open up more jobs where literature graduates will thrive. JOBS is a pilot venture to see what model we can develop to build the value proposition for studying literature.
We are planning a literary event with UWIAA Jamaica Chapter and the DLIE for December (likely 11,12 or 13th). A follow up workshop is also being planned with the same group of undergraduates/postgraduates in December to open more doors and for the group to flex their academic skills to raise the value of tehir work commercially and culturally. We hope to have a joint literary event with the UWIAA Toronto Chapter but no date has been set as yet.
Trees That Feed Foundation have approached us to run a joint essay competition with the breadfruit tree featuring in the story.TTFF will supply the judges and prizes. We are planning for this essay competition to be open to all undergraduates and post graduates to see how talent emerges. In May 2020 literary events are planned for Paris and Brussels.
