Dear Editor,
I see that Ruel Johnson, who has an unhealthy obsession with the Carib-bean Press, has written a letter to SN criticising me yet again. It is clear to me that his malice is aimed at getting him publicity and also editorship at the Press at a very high salary. This is such a shame since Dr Ian McDonald and Professor David Dabydeen have been editing the Guyana Classics and other titles for free, and out of a sense of the urgent need for a literary renaissance in Guyana, in terms of reading and writing.
Although Mr Johnson wrote to 20 writers in June 2013 urging them not to publish their poetry with the Caribbean Press, they ignored this attempt as sabotage, and the Anthology of Contemporary Guyanese Verse, Volume 1 (containing the work of 21 resident Guyanese poets) has been published, and I believe is the first of several volumes being planned. I cannot understand how Mr Johnson, who claims to want to promote Guyanese writers, should attempt to block their work from being published. I can only surmise envy on his part, or fear of competition. Incidentally, on the subject of competition, none of the major Guyanese writers submitted books for the 2012 Guyana Prize, so, in an act equivalent to affirmative action on behalf of Guyana-based writers, the Prize was given to a novella by Mr Johnson. It is regrettable that the judges debased the currency of the Guyana Prize by awarding it to a novella of questionable merit. Let the truth be told and told boldly about this act of condescension on the part of the judges. We don’t want handouts and to be subjects of pity. Guyana-based writers should, and will, in the future win the Prize on the merit of their literary skills, not because they are ‘local.’
For my part, I decided in 2013 not to moan and groan as Mr Johnson does in his letters – an unfortunate Guyanese habit – but to try to do something worthwhile, especially when I learnt of the scope of the Caribbean Press, which I was previously not fully aware of. In response to the Press’s repeated invitation (in the media, on its website) to Guyanese to contribute to its development in multiple ways, I visited many schools, talked to many teachers and students, gave workshops and talks, and, as a result, compiled and edited a collection of poems, which has now been published in book form, entitled Twenty Five Poems By Guyanese Children, Volume 1. As a Pastor, I bless the Caribbean Press for its willingness to publish young writers who may become our future literary stars. And the children are utterly delighted to see their work in print, and to know that their work will be distributed to all school and public libraries to inspire other children to write. Bless the children of Guyana! Their anthology is now part of the largest book publication programme in the history of our country, and will be sitting on the library shelves alongside literary giants published by the Caribbean Press, like Sir Wilson Harris, Edgar Mittelholzer, Denis Williams, Mark McWatt, Fred D’Aguiar and Ian McDonald.
Last Sunday, Mr Johnson posted some really bad things about me on my Facebook wall pertaining to the Caribbean Press to degrade my character, Dr Dabydeen and Minister Frank Anthony. Mr Johnson claimed to be my friend but I had to unfriend him on Facebook and block him from posting bad things about me. In my personal opinion Mr Johnson is an ardent critic of the Press to all the editors and myself because he is not involved in editing; for him no one else is capable of doing it. It’s mind boggling that Johnson even criticized the President and wants the President to sign his Guyana Prize certificate. He went on to say on my Facebook wall that if the Press failed, tens of millions of dollars will go down the drain. The Press has published 68 volumes of books thus far, books of great literary merit that cost millions to be printed, which I believe exceeded the Caribbean Press budget.
I am a published author and poet; I have published four books and am fully aware of the cost of printing which Johnson himself is fully aware of. His greatest obsession is with Minister Frank Anthony’s thirteen-year-old daughter having a book published with the Caribbean Press. May I ask why, if the Minister daughter can write a book, it cannot be published if it has merit? I have in my possession short stories by a lawyer’s daughter; her stories can stand alone to make a good collection of 15 stories and she is only 13 years old. I am aware of more than 50 students writing poetry and stories, and after reading their writings I believe all of them are capable of writing their own books. So what’s the obsession about the book of a Minister’s daughter being published?
Mr Johnson loves to call ministers in government bad names as well as myself, as a Reverend. I wish to let him know that he needs to be more disciplined and must learn to respect authority because he is still a Guyanese citizen and not living in exile. I also wish to let him know that my writings were published abroad free because of literary merit, and I am well qualified to edit children’s poetry and prose and I could help edit his writing too for free.
I am now in the process of visiting more schools up and down the country to gather poems and compositions for five more anthologies. I welcome any Guyanese to help me in this work. As a Pastor, and by the grace of God, I meet many parents and children, so I can try my best to publish the work of the young. I have also volunteered to be part of the new Editorial Advisory Board which the Press is planning to set up to help enable and oversee the publication of more Guyanese writers. My talents are few and imperfect, being a creature of God, but I might as well try to use them creatively rather than be mired in the type of compulsive negativity and carping that typify Mr Johnson’s sneering and scowling letters to the media.
Yours faithfully,
Rev Gideon Cecil
