Maybe as a result of Ruel's post-Carifesta complaining earlier this year, David Dabydeen and others (it appears) have set the stage for Guyana's first publishing house. But untrue to reports here, it is NOT the first in the Caribbean. MEP Publishers in Trinidad and others mentioned at the bottom of this Repeating Islands post would very much beg to differ.
Should budding writers be excited that Guyana may very soon have a publishing house? Does it mean more of them (based in Guyana) will have opportunities to be published? Will they publish writers solely from Guyana, or from other Caribbean countries as well? Will they sponsor workshops, courses, and reading events for those writers who need help preparing for publication, as well as the right kind of exposure? Those questions and more should be presented to Dabydeen and whoever else is involved. It sounds like a good thing though. We'll see.
Montserrat is putting on a literary fest in November. As some of you (who still hold me accountable to what I say here) remember I was reading one of Montserrat's greats--E.A. Markham--a few months ago. I still am. Just kinda got lazy about it. But now I can aim at reviewing him in time for the fest. No I'm most likely not going to be there, but I can certainly participate right here on this blog.
New books! Guyanese writer Pauline Melville has a new book--Eating Air--coming out in September. I'm looking forward to something new from a familiar Guyanese writer. But I'm just as excited about Peepal Tree Press' recent reprinting of classics by Edgar Mittelholzer, Jan Carew, Denis Williams, Andrew Salkey, and others.
Another interesting looking new release from Peepal Tree Press is Sections of an Orange, by Trinidadian Anton Nimblett. Nimblett's work is described as showing "writing with equal empathy about the lives of gay men, heterosexuals, young and old, country folk and urbanites." I'm considering doing a piece on "gay" writing from the Caribbean here on this blog or someplace else.
Possible questions: Are writers, like Nimblett, for instance, presenting (or agitating for) a fresh discourse on homosexuality from a Caribbean perspective? And what (if any) is the nature of that discourse?
All of that is for much later. Right now I'm reading Cyril Dabydeen and Marlon James. Details on both to come later. Meanwhile, because I love a good first line, and can't stress the importance of it enough, here are the first lines of each novel:
Dark Swirl, Cyril Dabydeen.
The water in the creek glistened, darkly.
The Book of Night Women, Marlon James.
People think blood red, but blood don't got no colour.
