A fallacy that Guyanese writers overseas have advantages over those writing from home

Jul 02, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It is not true that Guyanese writers ‘overseas’ have a leg up on local writers. The shocking fact may well turn out that the reverse is true. But the ‘better-opportunities’ charge levelled after a Guyana Prize wraps up with more overseas-Guyanese wins, pops us time after time. Again: It’s not true. What is true, is that the Guyanese writer in the Diaspora—be it the USA, Canada, or in Europe, stand to experience more hardships to be recognized as writers, and this translates into even greater difficulties getting published by a British or American publisher.
The mere act of writing overseas is difficult for many Guyanese overseas who still consider themselves writers.
Many in Guyana will not understand how hard it is for some people overseas to work more than one job to make ends meet, and to even find the time to write. As such, many who came here in the hope of continuing to write have given up on it. Moreover, there are overseas-based writers who have been submitting literary works to the Guyana Prize and have not yet won a Guyana Prize. I know one poet who has been writing in Canada and has been submitting his work to the Guyana Prize for years and has not won yet. But let me not digress.
Most American publishers won’t touch what we (as Guyanese) write with a ten-foot pole. Why? Because American publishers are not interested in Guyanese stories. This is not what I ‘hear’. This is what had been told to me back in 1996 after I was afforded the opportunity to speak with a few editors from a few prestigious houses in Manhattan. One editor complimented me for my novel ‘APATA: The Story of a Reluctant Criminal’—published by Heinemann Educational Books back in1986—and asked me what I was doing in America? She told me that as a Guyanese writer, my audience was in Guyana and not in America, and as such the publisher she represents would not think to accept a book by a Guyanese author. The fact is, there are few books by Guyanese and Caribbean authors published in the USA.
Very few. So, the so-called ‘opportunities’ that overseas based Guyanese writers have don’t exist—at least not for the likes of me and many others who just sit at home wherever we are ‘overseas’ and writer for our lives with hardly any recognition.
So, let me speak about myself since it seems some at-home Guyanese think that I write with some special dispensation from being ‘overseas.’ I won four Guyana Prizes and one Caribbean Award for Literature.
The first time I won the Guyana Prize was in 1994 for my play, TWO WRONGS. Where did I write it? In Guyana—in Hadfield Street, Lodge to be exact. In 1996, I won the Guyana Prize for the second time with the play MAKANTALI. Where was it written? Again: In Hadfield Street, Lodge. For both plays, the only opportunities I had were two-fold: The first, to get the time to write; the second: to have a few Guyanese buddies stopping-by to give me critiques along the way.
Then I migrated to the USA and—just like I did in Guyana—sat in a room in Georgia and wrote a play entitled, BLANK DOCUMENT. But then, I didn’t have any of my Guyanese buddies to drop in and give me critiques BLANK DOCUMENT was the play that I won the Guyana Prize with. Then while sitting in my home in Georgia, I came up with the idea about a play populated with dead Caribbean and Guyanese writers. And I did the same thing like I did with ‘TWO WRONGS’, ‘MAKANTALI’, and ‘BLANK DOCUMENTS’: get critiques from Guyanese friends. I won the Guyana Prize for the fourth time with ‘DESPERATE FOR RELEVANCE’ And for it, I also won the Caribbean Award.
I didn’t win four Guyana prizes because I had ‘overseas opportunities,’ I won them because I write hard and research hard and listen to critiques. I would have won them if I still lived in Guyana.
When a Guyanese writer writes from overseas, he has no special advantages I can tell you about. In reality, the ONLY advantage I MAY have over a local writer, is that I have good Internet access, a laptop, and am able to research deep into anything I write about. So once the local writer has a computer and reliable Internet connection, he/she can write on a level equal to mine. And before I forget, please know that EVERY play that I submitted and ever won, was submitted AS A BOUND MANUSCRIPT and not a printed book. And speaking of printed books, when you see them coming to Guyana from Guyanese writers overseas, bet yo’ bottom dollar, we self-publish the majority we-self.
PEACE!
Sincerely,
Harold A. Bascom
Guyana Prize for Literature four-time winner, and 2014 Winner of the Caribbean Award for Literature.

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