Among the important cultural highlights of 2024 will be the Guyana Prize Literary Festival which is scheduled to take place between Thursday, February 29 and Sunday, March 3. This event was brought back into existence along with the Guyana Prize itself in and given new life in 2023. It is very important for several reasons, promises to be varied and interesting, and aims to be a major annual fixture on the national and regional literary calendar.
Very significantly, the Festival, which previously had no fixed date, was brought in to be a part of the celebrations of Mashramani and the national Republic commemorations. Central to this is the award of the Prize itself, regarded as a major national honour, now to be presented as one of the nation’s Republic distinctions. The National Poetry Slam, which also had no fixed date, was promoted to be part of the festival, and promises to generate some excitement on the Saturday night. Dramatic performance has been introduced, and one of the plays that have won the Guyana Prize for Drama will be presented at the NCC.