“Keep writing and keep reading” was Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips’ message to Guyana’s writers at the 2025 Guyana Prize for Literature Award Ceremony on Friday evening, as he pledged continued Government investment in the country’s literary sector.
Phillips reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to strengthening Guyana’s literary and creative sectors, stressing that the country’s stories must continue to be told authentically and preserved for future generations.
Storytelling, he said, has long shaped how Guyana and the wider Caribbean understand their history, identity and experiences. Much of the region’s early history was recorded through outsiders’ perspectives, he noted, while the experiences of its own people were often overlooked or distorted — accounts that Guyanese and Caribbean writers have since helped correct.
He highlighted the contributions of writers including Edgar Mittelholzer, E.R. Braithwaite and Beryl Gilroy, pointing also to the continued international recognition of contemporary Guyanese literature. Among the achievements cited were 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 Tessa McWatt’s 2026 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.
Despite this progress, Phillips acknowledged that Caribbean writers continue to face significant challenges, including small markets, high publishing costs, limited reviewing platforms and insufficient access to editing and mentorship. He called for stronger support systems, among them workshops, reading groups, school writing clubs and closer partnerships between writers, libraries, universities and publishers.
Since restoring the Guyana Prize, Phillips said, the Government has made the competition annual, broadened its categories, introduced Youth Awards and moved submissions online, while Budget 2026 allocated $3.7 billion to Orange Economy initiatives.
He urged writers to remain open to rigorous editing and to document Guyana’s rapid transformation “truthfully” and “with imagination and skill,” capturing the private hopes, anxieties and humour of those who lived through the period.
Phillips congratulated the shortlisted and winning writers, and thanked the judges and organisers for their role in advancing Guyana’s literary community.
