– Deonandan cops best Book of Fiction award; Payne gets Best First Book of Fiction award for “Leech”

Prime Minister Brigadier (Retired) Mark Phillips has reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to strengthening Guyana’s literary and creative sectors while underscoring the importance of ensuring that Guyanese stories continue to be told authentically and preserved for future generations. During his address at the 2025 Guyana Prize for Literature Award Ceremony on Friday evening, Phillips reflected on the longstanding role of storytelling in shaping how Guyana and the wider Caribbean understand their history, identity and experiences. He noted that much of the Caribbean’s early history was recorded through the perspectives of outsiders, while the experiences of its people were often overlooked or distorted. Guyanese and Caribbean writers, he said, helped to correct those accounts by bringing greater depth and dignity to the lives and experiences of their people. The PM highlighted the contributions of renowned Guyanese writers, including Edgar Mittelholzer, E.R. Braithwaite and Beryl Gilroy, while also pointing to the continued international recognition of contemporary Guyanese literature. Among those achievements, he noted Dr David Dabydeen’s nomination for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, Subraj Singh’s regional win in the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and Guyana Prize honoree Tessa McWatt’s 2026 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

“These achievements remind us that Guyanese stories can travel. They reach classrooms, theatres, prize juries and readers far beyond our shores.”