Dear Editor,
In July of 2012 Dr David Dabydeen announced that of the upcoming books to be released for 2013 by the state-funded, ministry-controlled Caribbean Press, one would be a book by the younger daughter of the Minister Dr Frank Anthony. In December of 2012, that book was ready with the young girl seen proudly handing over a copy to President Donald Ramotar in a front-page photograph in the Guyana Chronicle. If the publication in itself was not cause for concern considering the youth and relative inexperience of the author, the fact that her father controlled the publishing mechanism and that there was no competitive or accountable assessment process that led to the selection of the book for publication, there was still the glaring issue that a mechanism that was expressly established to publish emerging resident writers three years before had yet to do so.
Prompted by my enquiries into the mismanagement fiasco that led to the unfortunate situation, Dr Dabydeen assured in January of last year that anthologies of fiction and poetry by emerging resident writers were “at the printers” and would be launched when he was next in Guyana. It is now more than a year and a half since those assurances were made yet those anthologies have not been launched.
In addition to those, we are yet to see the launch of the subsequently promised anthologies of children’s poetry ‘compiled’ by Reverend Gideon Cecil, and books by three Guyanese authors. The public was assured of a Board to look over the Press’ operations and that was reneged upon.
And this is the thing – just as with the other publications, as I have pointed out before, limited numbers of copies of the books are in fact in the country. I’ve seen individual copies of at least three of the promised titles and there is one thing that they have in common – the quality remains sub par. In terms of the physical product, we have books that have been produced very cheaply with poor quality paper, inks and gloss.
The layout and design work was clearly done by the numbers and do not reflect the level of expenditure that the Minister was forced to release information on in Parliament last year, and basic proofing was in no way evident, even in the poetry. Most unfortunate however is the clear absence of training and editorial guidance for writers that I have perpetually recommended as a prerequisite for publication with the Caribbean Press.
The Minister of Culture and the Caribbean Press editor have subjected this country to a pantomime of empty promises, smokescreens, condescending postures and a pathetic evasiveness, and nothing fundamental has changed; an extremely well-funded publication mechanism originally established to promote the work of emerging writers in Guyana (and eventually the Caribbean) has not only failed to do so, but there has been abysmal accountability with regard to that which the Press has actually produced.
The literary arts continue to suffer even as writers here struggle on in an increasingly hostile environment. Recently, the following message was posted on a Facebook user’s account, followed by similar and supporting sentiments from different users:
“I will not be a part of the National Drama Festival this year. I do not have a new play. I also feel the Ministry of Culture was disrespectful to the winners of the last drama festival. In relation to being paid our prize monies, we had to show up at the ministry with a threat of protest and write a letter to the newspapers. When the monies were finally paid we were robbed. I am tired of artistes being disrespected in this country. What we do is also important. I hope they get it right this year.”
The poster was none other than Mosa Telford, winner of last year’s Guyana Prize for Literature in the Drama category. It is embarrassing that just a few months after winning the nation’s top honour for drama, Telford was one of over a dozen young people who had to resort to the measures she outlined in her post. It would be interesting to note that one other notable signatory to that letter was Lisa Punch, who is currently making waves in the US on the ABC television show, Rising Star.
Now, it is clear that the Minister is staunchly resistant to any sort of policy governing any portfolio under his control. That said, it shouldn’t take a policy to dictate that you treat your writers and artists with even a basic level of respect. For what feels like the hundredth time I am calling for the Minister of Culture to put in place a board and open the Caribbean Press to an operational and financial audit in the interest of moving forward, and to put in place systems that mitigate the alienation of the nation’s best writers from ministry programmes.
Yours faithfully,
Ruel Johnson
Janus Cultural Policy Initiative