Colin Channer should be feeling really nervous right now. The 2009 Calabash International Literary Festival is only a week away. Channer is the festival's founder and artistic director. However, he was unreasonably calm when we stopped to chat with him over scones and lattes at L Table, a café on the campus of Wellesley College near Boston, Massachusetts. Channer joined the faculty last September as the Newhouse Visiting Professor in Creative Writing. His appointment will run for three years.

So, what do you ask a man who likes to talk about everything? We couldn't decide, so he suggested that we ask him seven random questions. We did.

If Calabash were a car, what kind of car would it be?

It would be a 1974 BMW 2002 in mint condition. Kwame, Justine and I designed Calabash so it would last for a very long time. We also wanted it to maintain a youthful sense of energy as it aged. Our ambition was to create something that had the qualities of an instant classic. A 2002 is so well made that you don't even think about all that goes into making it work. You just know that when you're in it you feel bold, sexy and romantic.

So Calabash is quite the singles scene we hear.

That's not true. That is just so not true. People may come as singles, but they tend to leave in pairs. So what would you call that? A "pairs scene." But that sounds a little silly, doesn't it? In all seriousness, Calabash brings together a diverse range of people from all over Jamaica, the Caribbean and the rest of the world.

What are seven things that people might not know about you?

Let's see. I am legally blind in one eye, my right eye. I buy fresh flowers every week. I think that Colonel Josey Wales has one of the most fascinating minds of anyone I know, and could perhaps do a lot for the country if he ever decided to go into politics. I don't particularly like literary events, but I am happy to be partly responsible for creating one that thousands of people love to attend. I thought my name was "Courtney" until I was 10 years old, which was when I caught a glimpse of my birth certificate. I have only read at Calabash once - at the first one in 2001, although I have had a few books since. I am one of the laziest people you'll every meet, and because I like to do nothing I do a lot all at once so I can have time off.

Which authors or performances at Calabash 2009 are you most excited about?

If you're going to put me on the spot like that I'd have to say Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat, US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Rachel Manley, Naipaul's biographer Patrick French, The Calabash Acoustic Ensemble presenting the lyrics of Beres Hammond, and Ragashanti with 'his mix up and blenda' self, reading from To Sir With Love. Ask me tomorrow and the list will change.

Why did you choose Beres Hammond?

Beres is one of the best lyricists the nation has ever produced. We've long believed that music is a part of Jamaica's literary tradition. Sometimes we even say it's the most important element of that tradition. Kwame wrote a really good book to support this point. You should read it, Natural Mysticism: Toward a Reggae Aesthetic. So Wayne Armond, Stevie Golding, Seretse Small and Ibo Cooper have made a really interesting list of Beres' music going all the way back to Beres' stays with Zapow and coming all the way up to his latest release. They're going to do all sorts of interesting things with the lyrics, setting them to different beats, different tempos. It's going to be really, really good.

How can you be so relaxed with the festival only seven days away?

There are two reasons. One of them is that I am a part of one of the best teams in the festival business anywhere in the world. This team includes the staff of Jakes and the people of Treasure Beach. The second reason is that a recent setback created an opportunity for thousands of people to demonstrate how much this festival means to them. So, right now, I'm just confident that everything will be wonderful, as long as we continue to manifest peace and love.

Calabash 2009 will be held at Jakes in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth over the Labour Day weekend from Friday, May 22-Sunday, May 24. Admission is free. Donations will be accepted. For more information, including the full schedule and the biographies of all authors and performers visit calabashfestival.org.