The Guyana Book Foundation is pleased to announce that local writer Imam Baksh’s first novel is among the top three shortlisted for the Burt Award for Caribbean Literature, a year after he participated in the Burt Award Young Adult Writers Workshop.
The award was established by the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education (CODE) which the Foundation partnered with to host the workshop here in March 2014. CODE has been advancing literacy and learning for 55 years – in collaboration with the Literary Prizes Foundation, a press release from the Book Foundation said.
Last month Baksh’s first novel Children of the Spider was shortlisted. Based on an article from Bocas Lit Fest his book is described as capturing readers with “the otherness of its world, its intrigue and mystery.”
The other two titles vying for the Award are Dancing in the Rain by Lynn Joseph from Trinidad and Tobago and the Dolphin Catchers by Diana McCaulay from Jamaica.
The Foundation extends felicitations to Baksh on his achievement and wishes him success at the upcoming literary festival. The winning writers will receive their prizes at a special ceremony on Friday, May 1 at the Fifth Bocas Lit Fest in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The Foundation is also honoured to have been given the responsibility of distributing books to schools and libraries for the winners of the 2014 Burt Award for Caribbean Literature. The titles to be distributed are All Over Again by Ad-Ziko Simba Gegele, Musical Youth by Joanna C Hillhouse and Inner City Girl by Colleen Smith-Dennis.
The Guyana Book Foundation whose main mandate is to improve literacy among children hopes that this will encourage aspiring writers countrywide to realise their true potential and never give up on their dreams. “Imam Baksh has started the race; one which we hope will be followed by many more talented Guyanese,” the Foundation said. The Foundation is proud of his achievement and gives him its full support in this venture.
