Derek Walcott Library added to UNESCO World Register

The Derek Wal­cott Li­brary at the Sir Arthur Lewis Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege in St Lu­cia has been of­fi­cial­ly in­scribed on the UN­ESCO Mem­o­ry of the World Re­gion­al Reg­is­ter for Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean.

The an­nounce­ment was made dur­ing the pro­gramme’s an­nu­al re­gion­al meet­ing held re­cent­ly in Li­ma and Cus­co, Pe­ru. 

Out of 71 nom­i­na­tions from 15 coun­tries, 29 were ap­proved, in­clud­ing the sub­mis­sion for the Derek Wal­cott Li­brary.

The Mem­o­ry of the World Pro­gramme safe­guards doc­u­men­tary her­itage that is at risk of be­ing for­got­ten, dam­aged, or lost. The in­scrip­tion recog­nis­es the cul­tur­al, his­tor­i­cal and lit­er­ary val­ue of Sir Derek Al­ton Wal­cott’s per­son­al col­lec­tion, which of­fers a rare, in­ti­mate look in­to the mind and in­flu­ences of the No­bel Lau­re­ate.

The Derek Wal­cott Li­brary brings to­geth­er Sir Derek’s orig­i­nal book­shelves: works he au­thored, ti­tles gift­ed by peers and col­lab­o­ra­tors, and a broad range of ma­te­ri­als that re­flect his en­gage­ment with Caribbean lit­er­a­ture, art, the­atre, his­to­ry and world cul­tures.

 The col­lec­tion, do­nat­ed to the Col­lege in 2020 by Sigrid Na­ma, stands as a pre­served record of Wal­cott’s cre­ative world and the wider lit­er­ary con­ver­sa­tions that shaped him.

The Saint Lu­cia Na­tion­al Com­mis­sion for UN­ESCO al­so ac­knowl­edged Kathy Birch-Mc­Di­armed, Head Li­brar­i­an of the Hunter J. Fran­cois Li­brary, who now serves as Vice Pres­i­dent of the Mem­o­ry of the World Com­mit­tee for Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean. 

Her con­tin­ued work sup­ports the pro­tec­tion and pro­mo­tion of doc­u­men­tary her­itage across the re­gion.

The Com­mis­sion says the in­scrip­tion re­in­forces the im­por­tance of pre­serv­ing the Derek Wal­cott Li­brary and the lit­er­ary mem­o­ry it holds for the Caribbean and be­yond.

CMC/lc/kb/2025

CAS­TRIES, St. Lu­cia, Nov. 20, CMC –