Guyanese literature

Guyanese literature has been produced by a number of authors, most of whom write in the English language. Many Guyanese-born writers have emigrated abroad.

History of Guyanese literature

The first book written on Guyana, by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 16th century, was The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empyre of Guiana (With a Relation of the Great and Golden Citie of Manoa (Which the Spanyards call El Dorado) and of the Provinces of Emeria, Aromaia, Amapaia, and Other Countries, with Their Riulers, Adjoyning (Robert Robinson: London, 1596).

One of the earliest and most notable Guyanese authors was Edgar Mittelholzer, author of Corentyne Thunder (1941). His works often deal with issues of interracial relations, particularly the strain between European and non-European Guyanese.

Famous novelists include E. R. Braithwaite (author of To Sir, With Love, 1959), Wilson Harris (author of Palace of the Peacock, published in 1960 and followed by many other novels), Jan Carew, Roy Heath (author of works including The Murderer, the Georgetown Trilogy and The Shadow Bride), and dramatist Michael Gilkes.

They were succeeded by a new generation of writers from the 1980s onward, including Beryl Gilroy, John Agard, Grace Nichols, Jan Shinebourne, Cyril Dabydeen, Sasenarine Persaud, David Dabydeen and Barney Singh (author of Tales in the Guyanese Vernacular).

Martin Carter is considered Guyana's greatest poet.

Michael Abbensetts was a noted playwright of works for the stage and television in the UK, whose work included the drama series — Empire Road, which BBC TV aired from 1978 to 1979.

Vincent Roth's two-volume memoirs, A Life in Guyana: Volume 1 - A Young Man's Journey, 1889-1923 and A Life in Guyana: Volume 2 - Later Years, 1923-1935 (edited by Michael Bennett), were published in 2002 by Peepal Tree Press.

In more recent years, Pauline Melville has written fiction including The Ventriloquist's Tale (1997) and The Migration of Ghosts (1998), Oonya Kempadoo is the author of Buxton Spice (1998) and Tide Running (2001), and Sharon Maas has had published Of Marriageable Age (1999), Peacocks Dancing (2001) and The Speech of Angels (2003).

The influential intellectual and historian Walter Rodney was Guyanese, his most important book being How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972). Travelling and teaching widely, he was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and a supporter of the downtrodden. Rodney returned to Guyana in 1974 and was active in the opposition movement, leading to his assassination in 1980.

Guyana Prizes for Literature

The Guyana Prizes for Literature were founded by President Desmond Hoyte in 1987, with a view to promoting the development of local literature. Prizes are awarded biennially in categories including best book of fiction, best first book of fiction, best book of poems, best first book of poems, and best play. The Guyana Prizes are managed by a committee consisting of a number of university personnel, and the chief librarian of the Guyana National Library.

Winners have included Wilson Harris, Fred D'Aguiar, David Dabydeen, D. Gokarran Sukhdeo, Pauline Melville, Ian McDonald, Cyril Dabydeen and Ruel Johnson.

Guyana Poetry Prize

Previous winners: Fred D'Aguiar, Grace Nichols, Ian McDonald.

Writers shortlisted for and awarded the Guyana Prize for Literature include:

Previous winners of Guyana Prizes for Literature (incomplete)

Year	Author	Title	Genre
1987	Harold Bascom	Apata	Fiction
1987	Beryl Gilroy	Frangipani House	Fiction
1987	Wilson Harris	Carnival	Fiction
1987	Rooplall Monar	Backdam People	Fiction
1987	Grace Nichols	Whole of a Morning Sky	Fiction
1987	Jan Shinebourne	Timepiece	Fiction
1987	John Agard	Mangoes and Bullets	Poetry
1987	Cyril Dabydeen	Islands Lovelier than a Vision	Poetry
1987	Fred D'Aguiar	Mama Dot	Poetry
1987	Marc Matthews	Guyana My Altar	Poetry
1987	Rooplall Monar	Koker	Poetry
1987	Milton Williams	Years of Fighting Exile	Poetry
1989	Cyril Dabydeen	To Monkey Jungle	Fiction
1989	Beryl Gilroy	Boy Sandwich	Fiction
1989	Roy Heath	The Shadow Bride	Fiction
1989	Angus Richmond	The Open Prison	Fiction
1989	Janice Shinebourne	The Last English Plantation	Fiction
1989	Martin Carter	Selected Poems	Poetry
1989	Brian Chan	Thief with a Leaf	Poetry
1989	David Dabydeen	Coolie Odyssey	Poetry
1989	Fred D'Aguiar	Airy Hall	Poetry
1989	Ian McDonald	Mercy Ward	Poetry
1992	David Dabydeen	The Intended	Fiction
1992	Ian McDonald	Essequibo	Poetry
1992	Michael Gilkes	A Pleasant Career	Drama
1994	Harold Bascom	Two Wrongs	Drama
1994	Fred D'Aguiar	The Longest Memory	Fiction
1994	Mark McWatt	The Language of Eldorado	Poetry
1996	Grace Nichols	Sunris	Poetry
1996	Denise Harris	Web of Secrets	Fiction
1996	Fred D'Aguiar	Dear Future	Fiction
1996	Harold Bascom	Makantali	Drama
1998	Pauline Melville	The Ventriloquist’s Tale	Fiction
1998	Gokarran Sukhdeo	The Silver Lining	Fiction
1998	Dennis Craig	Near the Seashore	Poetry
1998	John Agard	From the Devil’s Pulpit	Poetry
1998	Paloma Mohamed	Duene	Drama
2000	David Dabydeen	A Harlot’s Progress	Fiction
2000	Paloma Mohamed	Father of the Man	Drama
2000	John Agard	Weblines	Poetry
2000	Raywat Deonandan	Sweet like Salt Water	Fiction
2000	Maggie Harris	Limbolands	Poetry
2002	Michael Gilkes	Jonestown	Poetry
2002	Stanley Greaves	Horizons	Poetry
2002	Ruel Johnson	The Enormous Night	Poetry
2004	Fred D'Aguiar	Bethany Bettany	Fiction
2004	David Dabydeen	Our Lady of Demerara	Fiction
2004	Paloma Mohamed	Nancy Story	Drama
2004	Ian McDonald	Between Silence and Silence	Poetry
2004	Berkley Semple	Lamplight Teller	Poetry
2006	Ryhaan Shah	A Silent Life	Fiction
2006	Cyril Dabydeen	Drums of my Flesh	Fiction
2006	Clive Sankardayal	The Brown Curtains	Fiction
2006	Mark McWatt	Suspended Sentences	Fiction
2006	Michael Gilkes	The Last of the Redmen	Drama
2006	Ronan Blaze	For Love of Aidana Soroya	Drama
2006	Elly Niland	Cornerstones	Poetry
2006	Berkeley Semple	The Solo Flyer	Poetry

Guyana Prize for Caribbean Literature

In 2010, it was announced that the Government of Guyana had provided funds to the Management Committee of the Guyana Prize for the first Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Award, in the categories of Fiction, Poetry and Drama, with published books by citizens of Caribbean countries (CARICOM States, the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Netherland Antilles) being eligible.

Sources

• Balkaran, Lal (ed.), Bibliography of Guyana & Guyanese Writers 1596-2004: An A-Z Guide of Books on Guyana by Guyanese and Non-Guyanese Writers and On Other Subjects by Guyanese Writers, with a Foreword by Professor Jan Carew (LBA Publications, Canada).

External links

• Guyanese Literature by Jeremy Poynting.
• Petamber Persaud, "The long and short of The Guyana Prize", 12 January 2013.
• Denis Scott Chabrol, "Guyana Prize for Literature winners announced", Demerara Waves, 16 September 2013.
• Guyana Prize Award winners, Focus on UG - August Edition, University of Guyana, 2007
• Elly Niland's Blog