Bearing Witness: The Poet as Journalist
Kwame Dawes describes how the making of poems and the writing of news reports are parallel endeavors.
Kwame Dawes describes how the making of poems and the writing of news reports are parallel endeavors.
It is widely believed that being openly gay in Jamaica is essentially a death sentence. That if you put your face on camera and admit you are gay, someone will come along and kill you.
Ida Northover is a volunteer community leader battling stigma and discrimination in one of the poorest inner city communities on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica.
The Reverend Robert Griffin leads a secret church that is welcoming to gay men and women in Jamaica. He believes that religion is at the heart of Jamaica culture of homophobia and the time has come to reinterpret the Bible for modern times.
Jamaica may be one of the most violently homophobic societies in the world. This piece explores the dark side of Jamaica's culture of anti-gay violence and attitudes and explores the ideological beliefs that perpetuate it.
UNAIDS official expresses her belief that the only way Jamaica can contain HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country is to openly discuss about HIV/AIDS and the LGBT community.
Executive Director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition explains how violence against the LGBT community in Jamaica impacts the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.
Every weekend, an American minister flies to Jamaica to lead an underground congregation for the under-served population: the LGBT community.
Leader of the only gay activist group in Jamaica shares her analysis and opinion on the scope and impact of homophobia in the Caribbean country.
For more than 25 years, Dr. Peter Figueroa fought an exhausting battle against HIV/AIDS epidemic in Jamaica. Now retired, he describes the challenges that have prevented him from reaching the goal.
What does it mean when we report that a recent Jamaican government study found that nearly one-third of gay men in Jamaica are HIV positive?
Livehopelove.com feels like a plane ticket, a passport, something that helps you get from here to there. The website, a reporting project on HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting , features interviews, music, photos and poems.
Together, the story told is about living and dying with HIV/AIDS in Jamaica.
"Most of my friends are dying -- the thing is, they know it, and the others are busy nursing the dying: God's cruel edits."
Join Kwame Dawes on July 12 to celebrate the launch of his new book of poetry, Hope's Hospice, inspired by the people he met while reporting on HIV/AIDS in Jamaica for the Pulitzer Center. The event will be held at 11 am at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica.
Kwame Dawes' work will also be showcased at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC on August 6 and 7. Learn more about this event and how to attend.
LiveHopeLove.com was one of 38 interactive websites selected from over 2084 entries to receive recognition by Communication Arts as "best interactive of the year." LiveHopeLove.com was recognized alongside 10 other sites in the Info Design category.
Jon Sawyer and Nathalie Applewhite celebrated LiveHopeLove.com at the 2009 Webby Awards Gala in New York City on June 8 and 9.
By Lam Thuy Vo
Communication Arts, the graphic design magazine, selected "Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica," as June 4's "Web pick of today."
Dawes traveled to Jamaica in the winter of 2007 to record — in both poetry and prose — the lives of Jamaicans living with HIV/AIDS. "Hope" feautures recordings of Dawes' poems and the video, images and voices of those who inspired his writing.
Alex Amend, Pulitzer Center
To help celebrate Poetry Month the Pulitzer Center will be posting poems from one of our grantees, Kwame Dawes. These poems come from the project Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica.
How Magazine awarded LiveHopeLove.com, the interactive website based on Kwame Dawes' reporting project HOPE: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica, with its highest "Outstanding" rating in its Internationl Design Annual Issue. HOW is one of the big three design publications. Download a PDF below to read HOW's take on LiveHopeLove.com.
Kwame Dawes spent months in Jamaica and was inspired by the lives and stories of hundreds of Jamaicans suffering from HIV/AIDS. Join us as we listen to recordings of his poems and songs as well as inspired student performances.
Fight the stigma on November 5 at 8:30 p.m.
Reynolds 2 Common Room Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
Coffee and baked goods provided!
A NewsHour poetry segment featuring poet and writer Kwame Dawes aired on Tuesday October, 7 on PBS.
American University will be holding a program titled "The Invisible Face of AIDS". The forum will have personal accounts of people who face ostracism because the are HIV-positive or have full blown AIDS. Through these personal accounts, the organizing party hopes to enlighten people of the discrimination that takes place in health care, educational insitutions and even with in peoples' families.
HOPE: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica, a multimedia reporting project by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, offers undergraduate and graduate students a unique opportunity to explore the issues of stigma, discrimination and HIV/AIDS across disciplines that encompass public health policy, journalism, interactive web design, education, music and poetry.
When: Monday, September 22, 2008, 6 PM to 8 PM
Where:
Busboys and Poets
2021 14th Street NW
Washington , DC 20009
202-387-7638
Description:
Poet Kwame Dawes and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting introduce HOPE: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica, a multimedia exploration of the epidemic's human face.