For the third year, the Children’s Program at the BVI Lit Fest put the focus on local creatives, giving a younger generation the chance to connect with the seasoned musicians, writers, and visual storytellers who shape the culture around them.
Saturday on Tortola, Kamyce Penn-O’Neal, who helps to organize the experience under the guidance of Rochelle Smith, director of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College Virgin Islands Studies Institute, said the structure of the day is intentional.
“This part of the festival is strictly about our local authors and creatives,” she said. “Every year we continue to get more creative, to expand. The parents enjoy it as much as the children, and we want to keep building so the numbers can double and triple in the years ahead.”
This year’s presenters included children’s author Rick S.S. Grant, photographer Shaun Black, multimedia visual artist Via Donovan-Hodge, and musician Kayron Todman of the Razor Blades fungi band, each leading sessions aimed at sparking curiosity, creativity, and cultural grounding. The progression of the day moved with the age groups, from reading circles for younger children to hands-on art and music demonstrations for older elementary students.
Todman, who serves as a School Improvement Officer for the BVI’s Ministry of Education, led a workshop on fungi music — known in the U.S. Virgin Islands as quelbe. He spoke to students about the history of the music, its roots, and its role as a form of storytelling that has carried the experiences of Virgin Islanders across generations. He explained the instruments used in fungi bands and how they each contribute to the sound, demonstrating the link between musical rhythm and narrative memory.
He said the music is personal to him, formed through time spent with older tradition-bearers. “I grew up hanging out with the older guys, like my grandfather, going out during Christmas and New Year’s serenading from house to house,” Todman said. “It became ingrained in me. So now it’s about passing it on to the younger generation.” Seeing students’ excitement, he added, was the highlight. “Seeing the smiles on their faces and getting them involved — that’s the part that matters.”
In the next room, Grant concluded a reading session with children ages four to seven, sharing all four of his books before transitioning into a collaborative painting activity with Donovan-Hodge, who explained how pictures can also tell a story. He guided students through conversations about what stories can do — how they can express emotion, record memory, and offer new ways to see familiar surroundings.
“Reading is fundamental — it’s the crux of life,” Grant said. “Being able to impart knowledge and read with children and just engage is really important to me.” He emphasized that storytelling is not something reserved for adults. “You get to tell your stories as a writer, and when you put pen to paper, the world gets to see it. I wanted to inspire imagination, to get them thinking about the feelings in the stories and how they might tell their own.”
Penn-O’Neal said that having presenters who are not only artists but also community stewards and educators is key. Many of them were teachers to today’s parents – and in some cases, to Penn-O’Neal herself, who spoke about her experiences with Todman as her music teacher.
“It’s important for the children to see that the people who taught us are still here, still contributing,” she said. “They’re not just performing; they’re explaining the culture, the origins, and the stories behind what they do.”
She stressed that the intention is not nostalgia, but continuity. “We as adults keep culture close to us, but it has to start with the children,” she said. “When they meet the people who hold these traditions, they understand that culture isn’t something in the past – it’s something living, and they’re part of it.”
As the festival looks toward next year, Penn-O’Neal said the goal is steady growth — not just in attendance, but in depth of connection. “We want more children, more families, more conversations,” she said. “This is where storytelling begins.”
St. Croix Source
Local news
