Calabash math

It takes a lot of work to put on a festival. It takes even more work if that festival is an international one that takes place in a fishing and farming community off the beaten path. Justine Henzell understands this challenge more than most people. She is the producing director of the Calabash International Literary Festival Trust and one of the three people most responsible for bringing it into being.

She is a freelance producer, story editor and the overseer of the artistic legacy of her father Perry Henzell, the late film-maker and novelist who is best known for the movie The Harder They Come.

"Nobody understands how this festival works as well as Justine does," said Kwame Dawes, the festival's programming director. "She's a professional numbers and logistics person. Ask her anything about the practical aspects of Calabash and she can tell you."

Well, we did, and here are the results - the math of Calabash, according to Justine Henzell.

US$100,000 = how much it will cost to produce Calabash 2010

$0 = the cost of attending Calabash 2010

$0 = the annual salary of the highest paid member of the Calabash team

4 = the number of small tents assembled to make the giant Calabash reading tent

3,000 = the number of people expected at Calabash on Saturday afternoon

300 = the number of people who attended the first Calabash

1,000lb = the quantity of fish being ordered for Calabash 2010

0lb = the amount of pork being ordered for Calabash 2010

4,180 = the number of books that Novelty Trading have ordered for Calabash 2010

3 hours = the driving time from Kingston to Treasure Beach via the toll road

2 hours = the amount of time it will take William Mahfood to make that journey

15 = the number of nationalities represented by the writers at Calabash 2010

14 = the number of sponsors for Calabash 2010

13 = the number of women writers at Calabash 2010

3 = the number of Asian writers at Calabash 2010

3 = the number of African writers at Calabash 2010

1 = the number of Nobel Laureates who will appear at Calabash 2010

1 = the number of Nobel Laureates who've read at Calabash before 2010

$0 = the highest fee ever paid to an author for appearing at Calabash

17 = the number of years that Jake's has been in operation

4 = number of Jamaican writers who will read from their first books at Calabash 2010

1 = the number of times that Colin Channer has ever read

3 = the number of times that Staceyann Chin has read at Calabash

9 = the number of times that Wayne Armond has performed on guitar at Calabash

100 = the number of poems in the anthology So Much Things to Say

3 inches = the height of technical director John DaCosta's mohawk at its peak

5 = the highest number of marriage proposals that associate producer Carleene Samuels has received in one day at a given Calabash

3 = the number of open-mic sessions at Calabash 2010

1 = the number of times that Jason Henzell has read at Calabash

$0 = venue and room rental fees charged by Jake's since the beginning of Calabash

2,000 = the number of programmes being printed for Calabash 2010

$100 = cost of a programme at Calabash 2010

12 feet = the width of the centre aisle in the reading tent at Calabash

7 = the number of digital speakers placed in the reading tent

34lb = the weight of the bamboo podium on the Calabash stage

U$30 = nightly cost of a room at Irie Cabins in Great Bay during Calabash 2010

364 = the amount of planning days before the opening day of a given Calabash

1 = the number of prime ministers who has read at Calabash

2 = the number of books that Calabash has brought back into print

60 = the number of writers who've received fellowships to Calabash Writers' Workshops

2 = number of Calabash anthologies published by Akashic Books

6 = number of chapbooks by Jamaican writers published by Calabash

90 = percentage of the real work that Justine Henzell does during Calabash

10 = percentage of the real work that Kwame Dawes does during Calabash

0 = percentage of the real work that Colin Channer does during Calabash.

Calabash 2010 will take place at Jake's in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, from Friday, May 28 to Sunday, May 30. All events will be free and open to the public.