Left to right Roy Heath, England-based Guyanese writer who won the Guyana Prize for the Best Book of Fiction, with his novel work ‘The Shadow Bride’, Mr Martin Carter acclaimed Guyanese poet who won the Guyana Prize for the Best Book of Poetry with his ‘Selected Poems’ and 
Canada-based Guyanese writer Brian Chan who won the Guyana Prize for the Best First Book of Poetry for his ‘Thief with Leaf’ seen sitting together at the presentation ceremony at the National Cultural Centre Monday night.
“Everything About This Project Is Right”- Says President Hoyte As He Opens Flour Mill At Lookout
GOVERNMENT’S policy on divestment remains firm and its sale of the state cassava mill at Lookout, East Bank, Essequibo was in keeping with this programme.
Reiterating this at the opening last week of the flour mill under new owners, Banks DIH, President Desmond Hoyte said the divestment programme has not been as rapid as government would have liked it. ‘We are trying to accelerate the pace,’ he said, however, adding government was proud it facilitated implementation of the project by selling Banks the processing plant and other Lookout assets.
The Banks DIH Lookout plant will be producing cassava, plantain and rice flours to make the national ‘use local’ policy which is important to the food self- sufficiency and self- reliance programme, Mr. Hoyte said.
He said the project also shows the enormous scope for processing local crops into a wide range of products.
In addition, it emphasises the use of local foods and will spur breakfast cereals, snacks and holiday foods. President Hoyte, who formally opened the new project, called it a bold, pioneering effort because it is designed to closely link with farmers in the area.
Government was grateful Banks was showing local rice, cassava and plantain flour can be used to make delicacies of the highest quality but Mr. Hoyte feels the project also demonstrates the role of the private sector in the economic recovery programme.
‘Everything about this project is right and accords fully with national policy and correct development strategy,’ Mr. Hoyte said.
It, he added, was a good example of manufacturing diversification, it promotes the food self-sufficiency objective, is a lesson in creating links in the economy and is based squarely on the use of local crops.
‘One of the most important spin-offs is the opportunity that farmers in the area will have to obtain a secure market and stable, attractive prices for their produce and earn much higher incomes from their farms,’ the President explained. Banks, he said, has already bought from farmers in the area, about 900,000 pounds of cassava and 60,000 pounds of plantains.
‘This is an encouraging start,’ Mr. Hoyte felt and advised that farmers will have to be reliable suppliers.
He referred to government’s offer to make shares in Guyana Stores available to the corporation’s employees and others and said this is intended to be the norm.
‘As we are all aware the idea of widespread public and employee shareholding to which I have been referring has been pioneered in our country by Banks DIH and the late Peter d’Aguiar,’ Mr. Hoyte said.
Guyana Prize Is Oasis in A Desert – Walcott
THE Guyana Prize is a little oasis in a desert of economic disaster, commented University of Guyana Vice-Chancellor George Walcott at the awards ceremony Monday evening.
The desert was in evidence as Chairman of the Panel of Judges, Mr. AI Creighton, called on government to do ‘much more’ to encourage the development of good literature in this country.
As President Desmond Hoyte listened, Creighton announced that the only resident Guyanese to have won a prize was the seasoned and much acclaimed poet, Mr. Martin Carter.
The two other who won Prizes were Guyanese residing in Canada Mr. Brian Chan and England, Mr. Roy Heath both staying at the Pegasus Hotel and scheduled to leave the country soon.
Guest speaker Professor Rex Nettleford who is Pro-Vice Chancellor for International Relations at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, declared that, although modern technology has adversely affected traditions of literature and the arts in the Caribbean, writers will continue to flourish and even to take advantage of the improved communication systems.
He noted that this country is well-served by its legacy of creative writers and said that the independence of an artist goes hand in hand with democratic freedom in a society.
Dealing with the theme of a lost identity where Caribbean people are concerned, Nettleford said that writers have not been able to ignore issues such as race and colonialism, nor Africa in the Americas. He referred to writers in exile.
He said Caribbean writers should not look for carbon copies of European literature but record their own subject matter.
Nettleford contended that the lost identity myth, evident in the works of Shiva Naipaul, is dominant throughout the region and has its effect on late arrivals in the Caribbean such as Chinese and Indians who also have their contributions to make to Caribbean culture.
The professor pleaded that writers need to have close contact with each other and not communicate across oceans from London, Mexico or North America.
The two problems writers in the region face are publishing and a market. Publishing opportunities increased tremendously but the market must be developed.
This is up to the writer who must write for a Caribbean audience and seek to acquire his market here. Nettleford stressed that painters, sculptors and dancers are also constantly reminded of Europe’s vibrant art but they yet manage to be original.
‘The subject of creative writing is of concern to all because we’ve discovered ourselves through creative writing,’ Nettleford argued.
In his Judge’s Report Creighton claimed that a literary prize alone was not enough for good literature to develop.
He noted that although the number of entries increased from the 1987 figure of 20- odd works to 40-odd, the standard was slightly below the 1987 level.
Prizes were not awarded in the drama category, where most of the local entries were submitted.
Creighton said that government must put a better infrastructure in place to support Guyanese and improve the social life of citizens.
He noted that most of the works dealt with post-slavery and indentured society, some were reminiscing while others tended to romanticise a plantation society, he said.
Creighton declared that a new wave of Guyanese writing has evolved which focuses on Indians in the society dealing with exile, race and today’s politics. These work deserve separate study.
The poetry works submitted dealt with such themes as exile, race and political protests while the dramatists, too, seem to have ‘a quarrel with history.’
The judges decided that none of the two entries was good enough for the prize Best First Book of Fiction.
No prizes were awarded in the category of drama because the desired quality has been established by winners such as Wilson Harris and Martin Carter and that kind of literary standard had to be maintained in the award of the first prize for drama.
However, the work of the four writers shortlisted, Harold Bascom, Ian Valz, Francis Farrier and Paloma Mohamed were considered worthy and two of them Bascom and Valz were given special mention,’ Creighton said.
The Best First Book of Poetry went to Canadian resident Guyanese Brian Chan for his work ‘Thief with Leaf.’
The Best Book of Poetry went to the internationally acclaimed poet, Martin Carter for his ‘Selected Poems.’ The Best Book of Fiction went to the England resident Guyanese Roy Heath for his ‘Shadow Bride.’
In an acceptance speech on behalf of the winners, Heath asked the audience to excuse his English accent and expressed the hope, to appreciative applause, that he will one day write and publish lucratively in the Caribbean.
He said his book took twenty years to mature.
Both Chan and Carter read extracts from their poetry and a public reading by the winners is scheduled for this evening at 6 p.m.