Reading charity pays tribute to ‘incredible words’ of Afro-Guyanese author, who came to Britain in 1977 where he has become a staple of English lessons
‘It’s not just me receiving this award’ … John Agard. Photograph: Rex
The Afro-Guyanese writer John Agard has become the first poet to receive the BookTrust lifetime achievement award.
Agard, who was born in Georgetown, Guyana and moved to England in 1977, has been a fixture on the curriculum since 2002 for poems including Half-Caste (“Explain yuself / wha yu mean / when yu say half-caste / yu mean when picasso / mix red an green / is a half-caste canvas?”) and Checking Out Me History. Winning the Queen’s award for poetry in 2012, he is the author of more than 50 books for children and adults.
GUYANA: Forest Spirits or Bush Spirits of Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples – by Rosaliene Bacchus
by Rosaliene Bacchus – BLOG: Three Worlds One Vision
Photo: Silk Cotton Tree – Santa Mission Indigenous Settlement – Guyana
On October 8, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a presidential proclamation declaring October 11th as a national holiday in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Does this mean that we will no longer remember this day as Columbus Day? Growing up in what was then British Guiana, I was taught to regard the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) as a hero.
During his four voyages to the New World, he explored a vast area of the Caribbean Region that he called the West Indies. The gentle and kindhearted indigenous Arawak peoples who first welcomed Columbus and his crew knew not the misery that this encounter would later unleash upon their world.
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