Today is the final round of the 2024 Literary Festival of the Guyana Prize for Literature. It concludes four days of activities in literature, culture and performance in celebration of Guyanese literature. This literature was acknowledged in its various forms, including oral traditions in story-telling, spoken word, the strong scribal tradition, drama and performance, and rewarded for the best of its writing.
This fourth day is as rich as those gone by and will feature exhibitions, training in the craft of writing, the opening up of new work and the recognition of old publications of scholarship, public readings by some of the world’s highly acclaimed, and dramatic performance on stage.
Exhibition by the UG Library
The University of Guyana makes one of the most important inputs into the festival with the contribution of the Guyana Prize Exhibition of Guyanese Literature. It is an extraordinarily impressive and historic collection of books, manuscripts, publications, large photographs, bio sketches and citations covering the Guyana Prize, established and newly emerging Guyanese writers and their works. It is spectacular and outstanding, occupying the entire ground floor display area of the national gallery at Castellani House, not only visually breathtaking but also valuable archival material.
This exhibition is a collection of all the winning books in fiction, poetry and drama in the Guyana Prize from its first year. In addition, there are all the shortlisted works as well as a large number of works, particularly manuscripts, that were entered in the Prize since its inception. These are accompanied by larger-than-life photographs of the winners, complete with bio sketches.
The same compilation is made for Guyanese literature and foremost Guyanese writers, with an array of books representing significant works from over the long period in the development of Guyanese literature. At a glance one can get a visual impression of the national literature in a most spectacular fashion. The exhibition is deep. It includes several titles that have historic significance, relevant to the colonial period and the historical beginnings and interesting extensions of the national writings.
As if that is not enough, the entire set of works published by the Caribbean Press managed and edited by David Dabydeen is on display. The Press reprinted significant titles that had gone out of print as well as others that are of some importance to Guyanese letters. It also published works by new, previously unpublished local writers who were provided with an opportunity to have their work published.
The exhibition mounted by the University Library is as comprehensive and meaningful a collection as you are likely to see anywhere.
Masterclasses
Among the highlights of the day will be two workshop sessions for the development of local writers. The first is a Masterclass in the writing of Non-Fiction conducted by academic Edward Greene, Chancellor of UG; critic and prize winning writer David Dabydeen and Lisa Outar, independent scholar and critic, at Castellani House. This is a new category introduced into the Guyana Prize and the leaders of the masterclass were members of the Jury for 2023.
The second training session is a Masterclass in the writing of Fiction conducted by Funso Aiyejina and Celeste Mohamed, both outstanding prize winning fiction writers. Aiyejina was the professor in charge of a masters degree in fiction writing at UWI St Augustine. The workshop will also be at Castellani House and interested local writers are encouraged to attend.
These will complete an important series of workshops held during the festival. Yesterday there was a Masterclass in Poetry conducted by poet Richard Georges, critic Evelyn O’Callaghan and critic Alison Donnell. The other masterclass was in Drama conducted by playwright and academic Rawle Gibbons and dramatist Eugene Williams.
International Prize Winning Writers
Another high point and signal event for the last day of the festival is a public reading of selections of poetry and prose by Ayejina and Richard Georges. Aiyejina is a past winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and will read selections of his creative prose. Georges is a prominent West Indian writer who won the BOCAS Prize for Caribbean Literature and is a lecturer in the British Virgin Islands. These two will read from their works and entertain discussions with the audience.
Yet another opportunity is presented for interaction with major writers in a session called “A Tale from China: The Contemporary Guyanese Novelist”, at 4.00 pm at Castellani House. In this session Dabydeen will read from his latest completed novel, which has not yet been released by the publishers in the UK. It is set in nineteenth century China, a country in which Dabydeen served as Ambassador for Guyana. He was Professor at the University of Warwick and is now a Fellow at University of Cambridge.
Gordon Rohlehr and Book Launch
At 1.30 pm at Castellani House will be a session devoted to the works of critic Gordon Rohlehr and a book launch by Gibbons. Rohlehr was among the most celebrated literary critics who was born in Guyana and had an outstanding career at UWI, St Augustine. He has produced the most accomplished book about the calypso, a musical art form that he researched and on which he has published extensively.
Rohlehr’s many publications on West Indian literature (and on the calypso) will be on sale and the session will be led by Gibbons. There will be a talk about the various works and copies will be available to be bought by the public. Following that session, will be the launch in Guyana of Gibbons’ latest publication – Traditional Enactments in Trinidad : Towards a Third Theatre (2023). The author will talk about this work, which is arguably the most important recent publication on Caribbean theatre. Copies will be on sale.
Dramatic Performance
The last event on the calendar of the Guyana Prize Literary Festival will take place at the National Cultural Centre starting at 7.00 pm. It is the performance of the dramatic play Father of the Man by Paloma Mohamed, directed by Simone Dowding. This play has been included in the festival following the initiative by the Minister of Culture to have the plays that have won the Guyana Prize for Drama produced on stage. This will be the first performance of Father of the Man, and it will bring the curtains down on the 2024 Literary Festival.
