Dear Editor,
The Guyana Prize for Literature is brightening and extending its activities around the announcement and presentation of awards this year in an attempt to take better advantage of the occasion to improve its profile and promote the literature. The opportunity is taken to celebrate not only the prize winners, but Guyanese and Caribbean literature.
The Prize is collaborating with the Department of Culture in the Ministry of Education to offer to the public ‘A Festival of Guyanese Literature’ which runs from November 27 to Tuesday December 2. This literary festival incorporates two annual lecture series – the Martin Carter Lecture and the Edgar Mittelholzer Lecture linking them with the Prize Awards Ceremony and public readings by the winners. It has been a problem in the past because there is not enough time available during the presentation of awards for the public to benefit from hearing the winners read and talk about their work.
The following are the full details of the Festival of Guyanese Literature. The first event has already been held. It was on:
Thursday Nov 27
The Edgar Mittelholzer Lecture
‘Landscape and the Language of the Imagination: Reading Guyanese Literature’
Delivered by Prof Mark McWatt, Chairman of the Jury, 2014 Guyana Prize
The remaining events are:
Sunday Nov 29
7 pm at the Pegasus Hotel
The Guyana Prize Awards Presentation Ceremony
Announcement and presentation of the winners and the Judges’ Reports for The Guyana Prize – Fiction, Poetry and Drama; and The Caribbean Awards – Fiction, Poetry and Drama.
Monday Nov 30
5 pm at the National Library
‘The Laureates’
Readings By The Guyana Prize Winners
All the Guyana and Caribbean Prize winners reading and talking about their work.
Tuesday Dec 1
5 pm at the National Library
The Martin Carter Memorial Lecture
‘The Bowling Was Superfine: West Indian Writers and West Indian Cricket’
Dr Stewart Brown
Chairman of the Jury, 2014 Caribbean Prize
There will be more new events in 2016, the year of Guyana’s Golden Jubilee.
Yours faithfully,
Al Creighton
