Keeping Zee Edgell’s Work in Schools

While Edgell’s writings were set before the digital era, a lot of the Belizean culture depicted thrives, particularly in the rural settings. Coupled with that, the quality of the work presented is among those considered to be the best in the region. Keeping Zee Edgell’s work in the school curriculum is important, according to Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca. Holly Edgell told News Five that her mom wanted more Belizeans to become authors as well.

Francis Fonseca

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“It’s very important not only from an academic standpoint, for the quality of the books, which is excellent, but also because of what it represents, you know, being able to read a book written by a Belizean author that engenders in students a sense of pride. It inspires them, so it’s very, very important and we want it to be used a lot more. It’s being used in some schools selectively but we want it to be used even more and we certainly hope that that is one of the outcomes of our curriculum reform efforts.”

Holly Edgell

Holly Edgell, Daughter of Zee Edgell

“Each of her books is a way of celebrating but also showing some of the less pleasant parts of life, which is the job of a novelist. I think that she wanted Belize to thrive. She wanted people in Belize to see themselves on the written page – on the printed page, you know, to put our mark on the world. So I think that that’s what she would want people to know, but also that she was a wife and a mother and a grandmother and to her that was equally if not even more important than anything she accomplished in terms of the long list of accomplishments. She would not want to be the only one. She wants people to do this work and in fact on Saturday I was at an event with some young writers launching a literary magazine Bent Pin Press. I was so excited because the poetry, the pros, the words from the heart that are coming to the page are really coming along and so there are some people who are young and not so young who are capable of doing this work.”

Zee Edgell is the only Belizean writer whose name appears along with the title of her book Beka Lamb on the Caribbean Contemporary Classics list.