The 2026 Alliouagana Festival of the Word (AFW LitFest) gets underway on Thursday, November 12, with the official opening by festival coordinator Gracelyn Cassell, followed by the annual Alphonsus ‘Arrow’ Cassell Memorial Lecture Series.
The panel discussion, held under the festival’s overarching theme, “To Bot or Not: Originality in the Age of AI”, begins at 4:30pm (AST/GMT-4) and will be streamed online, allowing audiences in Montserrat and overseas to participate.
This year’s discussion will feature Julian Rogers, exploring What Arrow Taught Me About Originality; Nerissa Golden, examining Writing Creatively with AI; and Andrew Skerritt, considering The Prompt Is Where Creativity Dies.
The discussion will be moderated by Angela Estwick, Montserrat Country Manager of the ECCB.
The organisers are inviting audience participation, with a question-and-answer session at the end of the discussion. Viewers will have an opportunity to submit questions and engage with the panellists on the issues raised.
The memorial lecture honours the legacy of Alphonsus ‘Arrow’ Cassell, Montserrat’s internationally recognised soca pioneer, whose contribution to Caribbean music and cultural expression continues to influence discussions about originality, intellectual property and creative ownership.
With artificial intelligence increasingly influencing how music, literature and other creative works are produced, this year’s discussion provides an opportunity to examine the relationship between technology and human creativity, including questions of authorship, copyright, cultural identity and ethics.
How to watch
The memorial lecture will be available free of charge through the festival’s online streaming platform, ComeSeeTv+.
To watch, visit the AFW LitFest event page at https://www.eventmappers.com/afwlitfest and select the Watch Free on ComeSeeTv+ option for the Alphonsus ‘Arrow’ Cassell Memorial Lecture.
The stream is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, at 4:30pm Montserrat time.
Public contributions welcome as festival invites community support
The organisers are appealing to members of the public, businesses and other supporters to contribute towards the 2026 festival following the withdrawal of support from the Montserrat Arts Council.
Now in its 18th year, the Alliouagana Festival of the Word has established itself as an important platform for literature, storytelling, music and creative expression in Montserrat. Public contributions will help support the delivery of this year’s programme and the continued development of the festival.
Those wishing to support the festival can make a contribution through its EventMappers page at https://www.eventmappers.com/afwlitfest, which also provides access to the online events.
The Alliouagana Festival of the Word runs from November 12–15, 2026, with a programme of literary discussions, music, workshops, book displays, launches and spoken-word performances under the theme To Bot or Not: Originality in the Age of AI.
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