What started out as a hobby for Cassia Alphonso has propelled her into the national spotlight as a prize-winning poet.
Her manuscript of poems Black Cake Mix won the 2012 Guyana Prize for Literature award for the Best Book of Poetry jointly with Ian McDonald’s The Comfort of All Things. This achievement was both a surprise and an honour for her since she submitted her work, unknown to even the members of her family, and without any expectations of winning. Her first surprise came when she was shortlisted and later when she was declared the joint winner with McDonald.
“Writing has never been a chore for me,” she said during a recent interview when asked to recount her
