The centenary issue of the Guyana Annual Magazine was officially launched yesterday.
The contents of the issue aim to capture the resilience and the achievements in various aspects of Guyanese life in the years leading up to Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary.
The launch was held at the GuyEnterprise building in the presence of a small audience.
Editor of the publication Petamber Persaud said, “The jubilee year went by without anything being published or given recognition for things that have been around for some time now and so this booklet attempted to do something like that.
We have had our challenges with the Guyana Annual over the years but we are still going strong, a little thinner than before but we are going strong.”
Featured in the magazine are pieces on Guyanese beauty Shakira Baksh, folklorist Allan Fenty, deceased cartoonist Hawley Harris and Sister Mary Noel Menezes, who was selected as ‘Profile of the Year’ for her academia and philanthropy.
The magazine also featured pieces from the 2016 winners of the Amazonia Poetry Competition, organized in observance of World Biodiversity Day which was commemorated last May; as well as literary pieces from Wordsworth McAndrew, Cyril M Kanhai, John Corat and newer faces such as the award-winning Imam Baksh and Danielle Swain.
“When we started we were double the size and we need to get back there; we are committed to do that but in the meantime, this will do,” said Vic Insanally, publisher of Guyana Annual.
Meanwhile, Fenty, who was associated with the resuscitated edition of the magazine in 1998, described the Guyana Annual as being a “gold mine for anecdotal stories.”
Reflecting on the growth of the Guyana Annual, Fenty related that magazine was relaunched in the presence of Gail Teixeira, who was at that time, the minister of culture and former president Janet Jagan.
“At that time, we didn’t even have the book, we just had the cover and we had several pages. But nevertheless, Dr Tulsi brought his tokens of appreciation,” Fenty said, laughing at the situation back then.
At the end of the launch, copies of the magazine were presented to the National Library, where they will be available for sale as well as at bookstores in Guyana at a cost of $1,000.
