Though we may doubt whether some aspects of the idea of the nation state truly hold anymore in this increasingly globalised world, we may not doubt that we, as a specific nation of people – tied by history, blood, culture, landscape, memory and art – do exist. To suggest there is no such thing as a national Trinidad and Tobago literature is to suggest an erasure of Trinidad and Tobago. It is to achieve, at one fell swoop, what years of colonial dominance might have aimed to achieve: to instill a sense of self-denial.

The question of whether there is such a thing as a national literature came up at the Bocas Lit Fest held at the end of April. The issue was the subject of a panel discussion with Jamaican novelist Marlon James, Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo, Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh and English poet Hannah Lowe. From reports of this event, it is clear the panelists were wary of the idea of a national literature, even if some did not explicitly reject it. They warned that a “national literature” could be reductive and could exclude marginal voices.

James was quoted by Bocas blogger Shivanne Ramlochan as saying, “The danger in the term ‘national literature’ is the same danger in terms like ‘black music’ or ‘women’s fiction.’ It is a danger that this is a categorisation and any attempt at categorisation is reductive….At the core of categorisation is an attempt not only to make something smaller, but also easily definable.”…

Read more of this article in Newsday

In preparation for the conference, the Guardian wrote an article on the 1962 conference, giving insight into how the conference changed the world of literature as have the BBC. The transcriptions of the speeches themselves are also available.

• Adhaf Soueif – Should Literature be Political?
• Ali Smith: Style vs content?
• Irvine Welsh: Is there such a thing as a national literature? 
• Patrick Ness: Censorship in the internet age 
• China Miéville: The future of the novel 

The Financial Times has blogged about the conference, and there have been a number of articles in the Guardian:

• George Szirtes: The death of the novel will presage a rebirth of writing
• Charlotte Higgins: Social media and online comments ‘causing writers to self-censor’ – continuing from Patrick Ness’ speech.

The New York Times has carried two thoughtful and fascinating responses to the Conference from our delegates Manu Joseph  – Where Will Literature Go From Here? and Elif Shafak : Writers’ Quandary: Create or Report?

There was an enthusiastic response on social media too – with over a thousand tweets with #worldwritersconf. The conversation was kicking off before the debate too, with our twitter interview with writer Nicola Morgan.

As ever, if you’ve missed any of the debate, full videos of the conference are available on this site, with highlights from the conference available as a podcast from the Guardian Books Podcast.

Next stops: Berlin, 15/16 September & Cape Town 20/21 Sept, followed by Toronto, Krasnoyarsk, Cairo, Jaipur and many more.