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Sep 27, 2009 Features / Columnists, Guyanese Literature
By Petamber Persaud
THE GUYANA ANNUAL is ninety-four years and counting. Founded in December 1915, this magazine has outlived many other such publications, undergoing numerous modifications to meet the need of its readership and to carry out its mandate which is to preserve our identity and cultural integrity.
The main noticeable change to the book over the years was its name; started as the Chronicle Christmas Annual, it was renamed the Guyana Christmas Annual and presently in the new millennium it was labelled The Guyana Annual becoming a perennial magazine instead of a year-end, Christmas-oriented publication.
The main rival of ‘The Annual’ was the ‘Christmas Tides’ produced by the Argosy newspaper. ‘The Tides’ went out in 1950. ‘The Caribia’ produced by B. G. Lithographic and ‘The Pepperpot’ published by Bookers have had short life spans. However, we cannot diminish the significant contribution these magazines made to Guyanese literature where a nation needs a literature for self-identity, self-expression and self-propagation.
More importantly, those magazines served to preserve our literary heritage. It is amazing the quality of writing and quantity of information to be found in their pages, notwithstanding, the authors of those pieces who were or who eventually became prominent members of society.
A sampling reveals articles on the local history of flying, shipping, fire, fashion, religion, radio, newspaper and poetry. There were also stimulating essays by A. R. F. Webber, Vincent Roth, George Giglioli, Pat Dial, Harry Harewood, Vere T. Daly, A. J. Seymour, Ian McDonald, among others. Basil Hinds did Art and Jazz reviews. Fiction and poetry came from the pen of K. H. Cregan, Edgar Mittelholzer, Guy De Weever, Walter McArthur Lawrence, James Rodway, Wilson Harris, Basil Balgobin. Women writers like Zorina Ishmail, Connie Teoball, Ena Luckhoo, Marjorie Broodhagen, Celeste Dolphin, Sheila King and Claudette Earl held their own alongside their male counterparts.
David Granger writing on ‘Guyanese Magazines’ in The Guyana Annual 2004-2005, stated, ‘in over two centuries of publishing in Guyana, magazines have occupied a precarious place in the press and in the imagination of the mass of people. The mortality rate has been high…almost all of the 130 ever published in Guyana died’. From its inception there was a good run of The Annual until 1962 to 1965 when no publication came out. There were four issues between 1966 and 1992, one each in 1966, 1967, 1981 and 1992. It should be noted that the literary journal ‘Kaie’, the official organ of the National History and Arts Council, appropriated the role of The Annual from 1965 to 1985.
So it was a lean three decades for The Annual until Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh intervened. This Texas-based, Berbician-born Guyanese resuscitated the publication of The Annual in 1998 at a time when books were being jostled out by the television, when reading for pleasure was far from a desirable state and results in English examination were poor. Dr. Singh was ably assisted by Vic Insanally and editors like Allan Fenty, Charles De Florimonte, Ruel Johnson, Kojo McPherson and Petamber Persaud in the quest to keep the resuscitated magazine active.
Despite its ups and downs, The Annual has made tremendous contributions to our literary heritage and cultural patrimony, launching the careers of writers and artists who eventually became well-known, some internationally acknowledged. In the words of Ian McDonald describing The Annual, ‘every outlet for cultural creations like this one is a dream come true for some young person somewhere in this country yearning to express himself or herself and make a difference in our minds and imaginations’.
David Granger echoed this sentiment and added, ‘a magazine such as this does more than comfort the old. It encourages and enlightens the young and inspires the talented’. And Al Creighton in a review of the 2004/2005 issue of The Annual affirmed, ‘the outlets and opportunities that it provides within the country remain immeasurable’. Yes, it is one of a handful of literary competitions that publishes winning entries; that in itself is an honour especially for emerging writers. Nigel Westmaas writing in the revived 1998 issue of the magazine declared that ‘from the evidence and hindsight …the verdict is clear. It is so valuable that if it did not exist, it would have had to be invented’!
This is a proud tradition of which we should all be a part.
This year, the current issue under production is offering additional competitions for children under 13 years due to the fact that previously this category was judged in the youth category which included writers under 18. Those competitions are the Martin Carter Essay Prize and the Egbert Martin Poetry Prize.
The Annual continues to offer its regular competitions: open and youth poetry, open and youth short story, ‘The Rajkumari Singh Writing Poetry for Children’, and ‘The Henry Josiah Writing Short Story for Children’. The last two mentioned competitions are designed to discover and encourage those who have that special skill to write for children and to provide suitable reading material for the young. However, we are trying to revive the art & photography competitions which were sidelined due to the financial constraints of printing full-colour pages.
Closing date for submission is Wednesday September 30, 2009.
For further information please call the editor at 226-0065 or email: [email protected] and be a part of this amazing literary and artistic tradition spanning some nine decades.
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
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