David Dabydeen, Maggie Harris among Guyana Prize for Literature winners

The ceremony for the Guyana Prize for Literature and Caribbean Awards was last evening held at the Pegasus Hotel.

The Best Book of Fiction award was presented to Guyanese author and poet David Dabydeen for his entry ‘Johnson’s Dictionary’ while London,

Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo (fifth from left) is flanked by from (left to right) Subraj Singh, Stanley Niamatali, Maggie Harris, David Dabydeen, Barbara Jenkins, Eddie Baugh and Al Creighton who represented Harold A. Bascom.
Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo (fifth from left) is flanked by from (left to right) Subraj Singh, Stanley Niamatali, Maggie Harris, David Dabydeen, Barbara Jenkins, Eddie Baugh and Al Creighton who represented Harold A. Bascom.

UK-based Maggie Harris won the Best Book of Poetry award for her collection titled ‘Sixty Years of Loving’.

A section of the audience that attended the Guyana Prize for Literature Awards Ceremony at the Pegasus Hotel. The Guyana Prize was the brainchild of the late President Desmond Hoyte.
A section of the audience that attended the Guyana Prize for Literature Awards Ceremony at the Pegasus Hotel. The Guyana Prize was the brainchild of the late President Desmond Hoyte.

Veteran playwright Harold Bascom won not only the local award for Best Book of Drama for his piece ‘Desperate for Relevance’ but also sewed up the Caribbean Award for the same book.

The Guyana Prize for Literature’s youngest awardee to date, Subraj Singh, walked away with the award for Best First Book of Fiction for his work `Rebelle and other stories’.

Stanley Niamatali received the award for Best First Book of Poetry for his compilation titled ‘The Hinterlands’.

In the Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Awards category, Trinida-dian Barbara Jenkins won Best Book of Fiction for `Transit Wagon’ while the Best Book of Poetry award went to Jamaica’s Edward Baugh.