Caption: “Prior to returning to Jamaica, I entered the Common wealth Short Story Competition seven times, but it’s the story I wrote whilst being back home that won this year. Jamaica has an energy. Ian Flemming came to Jamaica to write James Bond” –Kwame McPherson, the first Jamaican to win the overall Commonwealth Short Story Competition, during his Courtesy Call on Sen. The Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (Wednesday, August 16).
McPherson presented his latest book, “My Date with Depression” and a handbook for returning residents to the Minister.
The Minister, and McPherson, who has been back home in Jamaica for two years, having lived in both Canada and the United Kingdom, also discussed the growing awareness that mental health issues also affect men, with the Minister noting that “it is important that men are in the conversation.” In addition to elaborating on the various mental health programmes that McPherson, could lend his voice to, Minister Johnson Smith encouraged McPherson to promote the positives, including business opportunities and successes of returning to Jamaica to live.
