Yesterday I posted a link to Charmaine Valere’s announcement of the Signifyin’ Guyana short story competition for Guyanese writers. This is a bold attempt on her part to give tangible support to writers living in Guyana, where opportunities to earn money from creative writing are very few. (And writers need to eat and pay rent just like the rest of us.) The winners of the competition will receive not insubstantial prizes–US$500 for the first place winner, $300 for second place, $100 for third–and the winning stories will also be published.
How will this all be funded? That’s where you come in, dear readers. Signifyin’ Guyana hopes to raise part of the necessary funds–US$500–with the help of readers in the Caribbean and further afield who want to support emerging Guyanese writers. So Charmaine has set up an account with ChipIn:
Please consider making a donation, even a small one. I just did, to get things started. Why? Because of Guyana’s immense contribution to Caribbean letters. Think of the names: Edgar Mittelholzer, Martin Carter, Wilson Harris, A.J. Seymour, Jan Carew, Beryl Gilroy, Denis Williams, Roy Heath, David Dabydeen, Mahadai Das, Pauline Melville, Grace Nichols, Jan Shinebourne, Fred D’Aguiar, Oonya Kempadoo, Mark McWatt, Ruel Johnson…. And those are just the first that come to mind. If there are equally talented young writers working in Guyana today, I want to encourage them and help them bring their work to the world’s attention. Do you?
