Scott Ting-A-Kee, Daryll Goodchild and Gabrielle Mohamed will represent Guyana as part of the country’s Literary Arts contingent at the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago next month.
The trio intend to leave an everlasting impression of Guyanese literature on attendees at the international multicultural event which is organised on a periodic basis by Caribbean countries. CARIFESTA gathers artists, musicians, authors and exhibits the folkloric and artistic manifestations of the Caribbean region. This year, CARIFESTA events will begin on August 22nd and end on the 26th.
Guyanese delegates will be participating in 12 contingents which are: Visual Arts, Fashion, Symposia, Music, Literary Arts, Craft, Dance, Heritage, Culinary Arts, Film and Animation along with Drama and Masquerade.
According to Ruel Johnson, who is in charge of the Literary Arts contingent, at least 13 persons submitted “eligible” manuscripts to the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport, which were then sent to three judges: Mosa Telford of Guyana, Manu Chander of the United States and ZP Dala of South Africa, who, after reading the submissions, selected the three best. In addition, he said that although he is glad that a young and diverse group of writers emerged from the competitive process, he thought that there should be more than three spots for emerging writers in the Literary Arts contingent, which is currently the smallest contingent.
Despite that, Johnson said, some writers took the option of going to CARIFESTA as part of the Drama contingent thereby creating a larger Literary Arts delegation. “We don’t have systems here to push emerging writers and launch them on the international stage,” he said, further explaining that that is the reason he wants more places to be allotted to the Literary Arts contingent
Ting-A-Kee, 25, said that he is very excited to be part of the delegation, especially since this will be his first time at the event and considering the fact that persons rarely find Caribbean literature about Chinese. He added that although the Chinese people are mentioned in books, they are only mentioned as store or restaurant owners. Ting-A-Kee said that the book he is taking to Trinidad is titled ‘Red Hibiscus.’ He revealed that the three main characters in the book have the ability to see in the future and with that gift, they were able to see what happened when the Chinese got taken to the Caribbean, how some of them were treated and how some of them were killed.
Meanwhile, Goodchild, 21, said that he will also be taking one book to CARIFESTA, titled ‘Crassing De Rivvah.’ He said that the book is a compilation of poetry which focuses on social issues in Guyana especially those affecting poor people. “We don’t really see the poor unless they are terrorising, killing or doing something bad,” he said. This will also be his first time at CARIFESTA.
While both of her colleagues seemed prepared to leave, Mohamed revealed that she hasn’t finished one of two books that she will be taking to showcase. This is the second time that Mohamed was selected to be a part of the Guyana delegation. “My intention this year for the books is to leave flavours of our Guyaneseness and make them lust for more and I have been to the last CARIFESTA and you go over there and meet a lot of people and interact and there is the general desire for Guyanese literature,” she said. One of the books she will be taking is a short collection of plays titled ‘Blackout Daze’ which is written in English Creole. The other is a compilation of poems, ‘Is You Madness, Is Not Me Own’.
In addition, she said that their intention as a group is to give people their “cook-up,” which she believes will make them come to Guyana to expand their knowledge of Guyanese literature. In addition, Mohamed said that her last CARIFESTA was very successful. Back then, she said, she didn’t have much confidence in writing Creole and putting herself out there.
“I believe that the three of us making this step with our books, we will be able to show other Guyanese people that this is possible,” the 26-year-old said.
