Dear Editor,
Ms Gillian Thompson was a member of the Management Committee of The Guyana Prize for Literature. She was a graduate of the English Department of the University of Guyana who advanced in the profession of library science to become the Chief Librarian of the National Library of Guyana. She was a good example of the substantial support to the national machinery provided by products of the national university. As National Librarian she presided over several imaginative and developmental programmes in the fields of literature, literary performance and oral traditions. In many of these she worked very closely with the University of Guyana Librarian and the University Library as well as other members of that institution and the Guyana Prize for Literature.
There were many educational programmes in Guyanese Literature, including the centenary celebrations of ER Braithwaite, the oral traditions which directly involved schools, in which she collaborated with members of the university, and the outreach programmes of the Inter Guiana Cultural Festival.
As a member of the Guyana Prize Committee she enlarged its work, including the role of the National Library in the most recent series of Writers Workshops held by The Guyana Prize.
The Management Committee of the Guyana Prize for Literature expresses its gratitude for Ms Thompson’s contributions, and extends its support to the members of her family for whom no words can be sufficient comfort. The Management Committee also joins the Chairman, the Board and the Staff of the National Library as well as the nation of Guyana in mourning this sad and untimely loss.
Yours faithfully,
Al Creighton
Secretary
Management Committee
Guyana Prize
