Al Creighton

[Inside GUIANAME, Bi-National Magazine, Donald Sinclair and Sean F Taylor (Eds.),

By Kuo Li (This is the edited text of a public lecture delivered at the celebration of Chinese New Year and Spring Festival 2022 at the University of Guyana.

Cowherd and Weaving Girl (ancient traditional Chinese love story) Long ago, there was a boy, clever, diligent and honest.

The National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD) opens its doors this week for the new academic year, offering training in the creative arts in a range of disciplines to another group of students and interested practitioners.

I is a long memoried woman        From dih pout of mih mouth from dih treacherous calm of mih smile you can tell I is a long memoried woman -Grace Nichols   Nanny   Ashanti Priestess and giver of charms earth substance woman of science and black fire magic Maroonic woman of courage and blue mountain rises Standing over the valleys dressed in purple robes bracelets of the enemy’s teeth curled around your ankles in rings of ivory bone And your voice giving sound to the Abeng its death cry chilling the mountainside which you inhabit like a strong pursuing eagle As you watch the hissing foaming cauldron spelling strategies for the red oppressors’ blood willing them to come mouthing a new beginning song is that you Nanny – Is that you Nanny?

Cent and Jill By Rooplall Monar Every time Christmas season approaching me does always remember one particular Friday gone back when me was a small boy going to estate two-storey white, red and colour pay office.

pas de deux + UN               Breathe Stretch Contract Tips’ tingle as limbs Imitate the struggle From within Hands meet as Hearts Tremble, ever-evolving Our pairing Minds reach as bodies Open beyond limits We move Swept, we tremble as energies mingle Our life extended From within – Ayanna Waddell   mask   countenance set calm sits beneath still.

The festival of Christmas is usually celebrated or revered as sacred, but it is also a cultural phenomenon, particularly in the Caribbean, with history, sociology, structure and impact.

Demerara Nigger          In right accordance, and demandingly because what withstands, stands Farinata, the Ghibelline, “entertained great scorn of hell and asked about ancestors”.

Coyote Goes to Toronto        Coyote went to Toronto to become famous.

Caribbean History                             A flower falls on a leaf, the forest sleeps, and waves are on holiday El Dorado sings of love as Columbus listens in a plastic boat.

One of the subjects of study developed by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) that has been slowly gaining ground is Drama, which is offered at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level as Theatre Arts and at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level as a part of the Performing Arts.

St Lucian poet, editor and librarian John Robert Lee uses a continuing email thread to disseminate information about the arts in the Caribbean and, very importantly, sustain a dialogue among the range of West Indian writers, dramatists, artists, and critics.

The art of diplomacy has long been enhanced by art itself.

Cane · You were born of cane Not as the planters hoped – Barefooted, beggardly of mind – But hugely wise, a soul blown high By the incensed breath Of a cankered slave: Cane made you a vision of mankind.

There was a very rare event in western theatre and an important advancement for Caribbean literature when a new opera, “The Knife of Dawn” (2016), opened at the Royal Opera House in London on October 24, 2020.

Sita and Jatayu                                      It was Jatayu who tried to pursue Rawan to save Sita, his treasured King’s wife, as she prayed to her Rama to free her from Rawan’s clutch, squeezing tight her spleen.

Resolution and Independence      I was a traveller then upon the moor; .

The Warau People Discover the Earth The Caribs were the first people on earth.

Among School Children                  I I walk through the long schoolroom questioning; A kind old nun in a white hood replies; The children learn to cipher and to sing, To study reading-books and history, To cut and sew, be neat in everything In the best modern way—the children’s eyes In momentary wonder stare upon A sixty-year-old smiling public man.