Arts on Sunday

This discussion by Akima McPherson places the importance of the Guyana Women Artists’ Associa-tion in the context of the historical development of women artists globally. 

Creole Gang Baling and throwing Among green canes from rusty punts, their sweated faces Show how many days and nights have passed between cane roots and black streams, sunburnt trashes and parched earth, Wearied days and restless reality.

Mining for gold and diamonds is a major industry in Guyana.

Revolutionary South African poet Mazisi Kunene equated “mother” with the earth, not only the ground, the bare earth, which is sacred to many traditions, but the world, the globe of humanity, and with a symbol of international unity. 

It can be said that the arts have always had a very close relationship with the environment and this has become much more sharply relevant in the current climate of global warming, rainforest conservation and carbon consciousness. 

Sasenarine Persaud is among the established contemporary Guyanese writers.  He settled in Canada for several years before moving to the USA and has published six collections of poetry and three books of fiction as a novelist and short story writer. 

The month of August is usually given over in the Caribbean to the commemoration of emancipation. 

Costume designing came into focus once again when the Theatre Guild of Guyana held a workshop on the subject recently. 

Part 2 Last week the Caribbean celebrated  the anniversary of Emancipation and we commented on the great impact it has had on the culture of the region. 

Today is Emancipation Day with celebrations across the Caribbean.  It is also the carnival period in some of the territories when the important national festival of the respective countries is held.

Arts on Sunday presents another in a series of articles revealing the Caribbean interest in Brazilian literature, and Guyanese writers’ engagement with Brazil.

Inexhaustibly, it becomes more evident that some poems are applicable to real social and political situations.

Exactly 50 years ago, on July 11, 1960, the best-selling novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee was published in the USA by JB Lippincott.

The work of celebrated Guyanese author Wilson Harris was once again brought into focus recently when the British decided to show recognition for his contribution to English literature by honouring him with a knighthood. 

The Caribbean film and cinema industry is more than forty years old. 

The announcement has been made and the news has been very well received that prominent West Indian and Guyanese writer Theodore Wilson Harris has been included in the prestigious Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 2010 and will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. 

This article is an extensively edited version of work presented at the University of Guyana and at the Octavio Paz Room in the Mexican Embassy by Visiting Lecturer Ellif Lara of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico).

Carnival TuesdayIt was not the decrepit fence, falling gate I faced, that shouted that was the place. 

Among the more substantial features in the glossy magazine Ins and Outs of Trinidad and Tobago is a small entry on ‘Trini Folklore, Folktales and Myths .

We present a comment on the new novel Eating Air by Pauline Melville.