Since its inception in 1987, three Guyanese writers (one male, two female) have received Commonwealth Writers' Prizes: Pauline Melville (Best First Book Overall, 1991); Mark McWatt (Best First Book Overall, 2006); and, Guyanese-born Karen King-Aribisala (Regional African prizes for Best First Book and Best Book, 1991 & 2008).
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize was established by the Commonwealth Foundation in an effort to encourage and reward new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin.
Pauline Melville: Biography:
Pauline Melville was born in Guyana in 1948. She has worked as an actress, appearing in films such as Mona Lisa and British television programmes including the BBC Television comedy series 'The Young Ones'.
Her first book, Shape-Shifter (1990), a collection of short stories, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book) and the Guardian Fiction Prize. The book consists of a number of short stories dealing with post-colonial life in the Caribbean, notably in her native Guyana, as well as of some stories set in London. Many of her characters, most of them displaced people from former colonies struggling to come to terms with a new life in Britain, attempt to find an identity, to reconcile their past and to escape from the restlessness hinted at in the title. More here.
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Book Notes
--Inside the jacket of my hardcover copy of Shape Shifter is the following description of the book by Salman Rushdie: "A notably sharp, funny and original first collection of stories, part Caribbean magic, part London grime, written in a slippery, chameleon language that is a frequent delight." --Opening lines of "I Do Not Take Messages From Dead People" (the first of 12 stories in Shape Shifter): Shakespeare McNabb waited in the outer office of the Ministry of Home Affairs. His appointment with the Vice-President of the Republic had been for eleven o' clock. It was now half past. He had no idea why he had been summoned. The secretary had been unable or unwilling to enlighten him. Shakespeare smiled ingratiatingly whenever she looked up from her typewriter and she ignored him. He took some papers from the briefcase on his knee and pretended to study them. The rambling, wooden building in which he waited was one of the old, colonial houses built by the plantocracy and now converted into government offices and ministries. Outside, the gracious width of the street was divided along its length by a stagnant canal. --Used copies of Shape Shifter are available through Amazon sellers, prices ranging from $0.01-$11.99. Or, a new copy of the 2000 reprint of Shape Shifter can be purchased through Amazon.co.uk. [More on Shape Shifter later] ___________________ Other posts on Pauline Melville: http://signifyinguyana.typepad.com/signifyin_guyana/2010/03/pauline-melvilles-eating-air.html
