Former Stabroek News reporter Keisha McCammon has been shortlisted for the Guyana Prize for Literature for her book Dancehall Lyrics: Top of the Charts in the ‘Best First Book of Fiction’ category.
According to an announcement from the Management Committee, McCammon’s unpublished work is, “A fast-moving contemporary work of fiction…” which “casts interesting light on the Dancehall music scene in Guyana.” It tells the story of acclaimed Dancehall singer Aaron Mills known as A.M.
Others nominated in the same category are Reuben Lachmansingh’s A Dip at the Sangam, published by Westbow Press and Subraj Singh’s unpublished work, Rebelle and Other Stories.
According to the information released, A Dip at the Sangam is, “A work of historical fiction about the abduction of the protagonist, Raja, from his Indian home and wife, his transportation to the cane fields of Guyana, his experiences and success in Guyana and his eventual return to India.”
Meanwhile, Singh’s Rebelle, was described as, “A first collection of wonderfully written short stories, rich with the flavour, culture and folklore of coastal Guyana. An enjoyable read.”
In the ‘Best First Book of Poetry’ category, the two nominees have both been published by the Caribbean Press. Rasta Lyrics by Cedric Castello, is described as “A first collection by a Rastafarian teacher/singer/songwriter: these rich and very readable poems range over the author’s many interests and activities and celebrate Rastafarianism and its founder, Haile Selassie I.”
Stanley Niamatali’s The Hinterlands is said to be, “A wonderful debut collection of poems centered around the author’s haunting memories of life on a sawmill in the Berbice River.” It was stated that the poet now lives in the US, straddling two cultures and his poems depict and question the values of both.
Vying for the prize for ‘Best First Book of Fiction’ are two former Guyana Prize winners, David Dabydeen and Jan Lowe Shinebourne along with Oonya Kempadoo, previous winner of the prestigious Casa de las Americas Literary Prize.
Dabydeen’s Johnson’s Dictionary (Peepal Tree), “depicts and juxtaposes, in Dabydeen’s richly textured and sensuous prose, the two worlds of 18th century London and British Guyana (Demerara),” the announcement said. “The novel transforms past and present into the sensuous, imaginative world(s) of the author and is a tour de force of Imperial will, art, literature and human sensuality—a compelling read.”
Shinebourne’s The Last Ship (Peepal Tree) is described as a novel that will resonate strongly with the Guyanese reader. According to the information, it is a, “historically and culturally important novel about three generations of a Chinese family in Guyana. The physical conditions, the family myths and the invented traditions are powerfully evoked in a simple and direct language.”
All Decent Animals, Kempadoo’s entry, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is her third. It is said to be about “a variety of characters and interests woven into the complex fabric of Trinidadian life and culture—prominently including Carnival. The language is rich and sensuous and will remind readers of their pleasure in the earlier Kempadoo novels, Buxton Spice and [the award-winning] Tide Running.”
Previous nominee in the ‘Best Book of Poetry’ category Cyril Dabydeen is once again on the shortlist for his collection, God’s Spider (Peepal Tree). It is described as, “A collection of carefully-wrought and polished poems that celebrate the many places and cultures that have shaped the poet’s consciousness—including his native Guyana, Canada (where he now lives) and India. These physical/mental/cultural landscapes breathe extraordinary life and feeling into the poems.”
He is joined by former Guyana Prize winner Maggie Harris and former nominee Sasenarine Persaud. Harris’s 60 Years of Loving (Cane Arrow Press), is her sixth collection of poetry. The release said it “evokes her 60 years of life in Guyana and the UK. These 74 richly textured, mature and celebratory poems sparkle and impress with a language that resonates with original imagery and insight.”
Meanwhile, Persaud’s Love in the Time of Technology (Tsar Publications) is described as, “A fine collection of brief, succinct poems. The imagery is emotionally charged and reverberates with cultural memories: the references to the language, traditions and cultures of India are particularly poignant and interesting.”
Guyana Prize winner Harold Bascom comes up against Milton Bruce in the ‘Best Book of Drama’ category. Bascom’s Desperate for Relevance, is a “drama script in which most of the characters are dead Caribbean writers. Funny in parts, it is also in parts a sad and poignant commentary on the plight of our writers and societies…
“The writing makes the reader long to see it powerfully enacted on the local stage,” the release said.
New York, New York of Pieces of Dreams, which is Bruce’s entry is described as, “A carefully contrived and interesting play about the lives, the dreams and the disappointments of Guyanese immigrants in New York.”
The committee noted that the 2014 shortlist was decided by a jury: an independent panel of writers, critics and experts in the fields of literature, drama, culture and the arts. These are Prof Mark McWatt, internationally acclaimed award winning fiction writer and poet, critic and academic; Ameena Gafoor, literary and arts critic, Editor of The Arts Journal, Founder of The Arts Forum; Robert Leyshon, Senior Lecturer at UWI, Cave Hill, Director of the Cave Hill Theatre, dramatist and critic and Dr Louis Regis, Head of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies at UWI, St Augustine, researcher in Cultural Studies, critic and academic.
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 29.
