Oct 24 - Chief Minister’s Literary Festival Closing Address
The following is a speech delivered by the Chief Minister at the end of this weekend’s Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival:
Dear friends of the written word
It is the fourth year that I have the pleasure of delivering an address at the closing dinner of this increasingly prestigious festival.
And just because I may have done so before I will not tire of saying that the creation of this annual feast of literature and learning is one of the things of which we can be most proud.
Because for a truly successful government, building a nation is not just about the erection of structures.
Homes, airports and car parks matter of course. Schools and universities matter even more.
But building consciousness.
Building culture.
And building understanding of all literature matters even more.
Because those are the building blocks of the people who are the architects of nations.
And in delivering this festival in its quirky, slightly bilingual, way, we are building on our culture.
And building into our people a stronger and much more sharply defined view of who we are.
That is why this festival is not just for today.
It is a way for reflecting today on what part of our yesterdays are shaping our collective tomorrows as a people.
In that sense, this is also VERY MUCH a festival that is here to stay.
But not one that is fixed and unchanging.
Rather this festival is alive and flexible.
Ready to adapt each year as we learn to improve and further refine what we do to better reflect what residents, visitors and most importantly young people prefer out of these four days of literary immersion.
And in that sense, Samantha Sacramento's time as Minister for Tourism and with responsibility for this festival has been marked by a remarkable reaching out to schools and young people.
Working with our Department for Education, we have seen magnificent program develop that has included young people, children and even those in our infant schools in the envelope of words which descends upon us at festival time.
That has been a truly inspired direction in which to take the festival and has led to even our promotional material reflecting the fact that this is not a festival for elderly bookworms - or at least not JUST for elderly bookworms - but also for the younger members of our Community.
Can I, in particular, single out the work of Christopher Lloyd in this respect.
How marvellous that there are people like him in the world to take language and literature to our children with such contagious enthusiasm.
And how lucky we are to have him amongst us each year.
I will not tire of telling those in schools today that I am extraordinarily jealous of their chance to interact with great authors in schools or during the festival week.
I know that all teachers of literature will be delighted at the opportunities this festival creates for students to get closer to the primary source of all literature, the authors themselves.
And of course Gibraltar has changed dramatically in this past half decade.
This is no longer a place where people can get away with saying "aqui no hay nada que hacer" or "there is nothing to do in Gibraltar."
It is now a case of something going on all the time.
Every month a different limb of one of many catalogue of events that lead visitors to Gibraltar. The successful Chess festival that led the way in January and February. The jazz festival in November. Darts, snooker, backgammon and Thundercat Racing weekends in different months.
All alongside a magnificent music festival which dominates the first part of September and gives way to our National Week events commemorating our first "British We Are, British We Stay" referendum of 1967.
Sports, culture, politics and entertainment (the last two being so hard to distinguish one from the other)
All on show in Gibraltar each month of the year.
Maybe that is what makes Gibraltar such an interesting and inspiring place to set a literary adventure.
This is a place of history.
Our Convent venue is a place of nuns and soldiers in equal measure.
Of Governors and Governments.
Of masters and servants as much as of colonialism yesterday and of equality today. And history is the word that gives it away. The etymology of that word is the clue. Gibraltar is a place of great stories. And great stories lead to great literature. Stories of all those nuns, soldiers, Governors and Governments.
Stories of those masters and servants. Of colonialism and emancipation This the non plus ultra that inspired fear in the Romans and Phoenicians The pillars of Herakles or Hercules.
From the time of mythology humans were already fascinated with this Rock of legends.
Lives have been lost over it. Legends have built up around it. Treaties have been signed over it and broken in the sieges around it.
So there can be no surprise that stories have sprung up around this home of ours How can it be anything but deeply inspiring?
So from Thomas Mogford’s “Spike Sanguinetti” to Sam Benady and Mary Chiappe’s “Giovanni Bresciano”.
This is a festival of pens mightier than swords
Of words greater than canon, especially if you count the words of a former First Sea Lord this morning at the Trafalgar Service of Remembrance.
And of continuing literary inspiration which will forever help shape who we are.
Thank you to all the authors and the organisers.
To Sally Dunnesmore and Nicky Guerrero in particular.
To my two tourism ministers to date, the great young talents of my Government, Neil and Samantha.
Thank you.
To all the volunteers.
To all the sponsors whose contributions make the festival a financially viable proposition without which the dream of bringing literature home to Gibraltar would still be in the downpipe of dreams never realised.
We owe you all in equal measure.
A stand out thank you though to GIBUNCO and John and Eileen Bassdone in particular for your generous philanthropy in support of this magnificient cause.
And finally, of course, to all those of you who attend and make this festival a success. In the end, success is all about bums on seats. So thank you for your support as that is the very essence of our success. See you next year for another fantastic Gibraltar Literary Festival.
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