Dear Editor,
I am delighted to learn that Wilson Harris has been knighted by the Queen for his services to Literature. Harris was recently made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was the first winner of the Guyana Prize for Fiction. He was one of the first Associate Fellows at Warwick University’s Centre for Caribbean Studies (now renamed the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies), and we held an International Conference on his work, the papers from which were subsequently edited by Michael Gilkes and published by Macmillan.

I will not here expatiate upon the literary genius of Harris: there are dozens of books and scholarly articles on his work, and I’m delighted that Faber will be reissuing many of his novels. I’d just like to take this opportunity of acknowledging my gratitude to Harris for helping my own writing career. It was Harris, in 1982, at our first meeting, who encouraged me to publish poetry, and when I did, he reviewed my book with characteristic generosity. He has been an inspiration to me, and all my

writings are a tribute to him. I once told him that my ambition was to write a ‘Harrisian’ novel. I know that other Guyanese authors like Fred D’aguiar and Pauline Melville cherish Harris’ writings.

It is a great moment in Guyanese literary history, and I hope the nation will celebrate his Knighthood.

Yours faithfully,
David Dabydeen