The Guyana Prize for Literature in collaboration with the Department of Culture in the Ministry of Education staged a “Festival of Guyanese Literature” a week ago. It was in reality a feast of Caribbean literature. Over a five-day period, there was a series of important literary events: the Edgar Mittelholzer Lecture delivered by Chairman of the Jury Mark McWatt; the Guyana Prize Awards Ceremony; “The Laureates”: Readings by the Guyana Prize Winners; and the Martin Carter Lecture delivered by Chairman of the Jury for the Caribbean Prize Stewart Brown.
The Stewart Brown lecture provides a focus for the following discussion. It was titled, ‘The Bowling was Superfine: West Indian Writers and West Indian Cricket.’ That happens to be a very topical subject considering the present plight of West Indian cricket – its fall from grace, its colossal collapse after a golden age of glory, and its many controversies. But it was also a source of interest because cricket is always considered a favourite topic around the Caribbean and will always be entertaining. Perhaps more important than that is the sociology of cricket in the West Indies – its significance as “more than a game,” its deep-rooted place in politics, economics and culture as well as literature. The Brown lecture highlighted the treatment given to the game in West Indian Literature.
Brown and Ian McDonald edited an anthology of writing by a long list and wide range of writers on the subject of cricket titled The Bowling Was Superfine: