This is a list of notable Guyanese writers.

A

Michael Abbensetts Michael John Abbensetts (8 June 1938 – 24 November 2016)Michelle Yaa Asantewa Way Wive Wordz, 25 November 2016. was a Guyana-born British writer who settled in England in the 1960s. He had been described as "the best Black playwright to emerge ...

(1938–2016) * John Agard (b. 1949) * Arif Ali (b. 1935) * Andaiye (1942–2019)

B

* Harold Bascom * Dale Bisnauth (1936–2013) *

E. R. Braithwaite Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (June 27, 1912 – December 12, 2016), publishing as E. R. Braithwaite, was a Guyanese-born British-American novelist, writer, teacher and diplomat best known for his stories of social conditions and racia ...

(1912–2016)

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* N. E. Cameron (1903–1983) * Jan Carew (1920–2012) * Martin Carter (1927–1997) *

Brian Chan Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

Bertram Charles Bertram Israel Augustus Charles (4 September 1937 – 11 November 1994) was an influential Caribbean playwright who, with the theatre company he founded, Related Arts Group, wrote and produced plays in Georgetown, Guyana. Between 1963 and 1971 he ...

(1937–1994)

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* Fred D'Aguiar (b. 1960) * Cyril Dabydeen (b. 1945) * David Dabydeen (b. 1955) * Mahadai Das (b. 1954) *

O. R. Dathorne Oscar Ronald Dathorne (19 November 1934 – 18 December 2007) was a Guyanese educator, novelist, poet and critic. He was the founder of the Association of Caribbean Studies and the ''Journal of Caribbean Studies''. Biography Born in Georgetown, ...

(1934–2007) *

David de Caires David de Caires (31 December 1937 – 1 November 2008) was a Guyanese solicitor. He was also the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Stabroek News''. De Caires' father Francis was a director of the family company, De Caires Bros Ltd, and a Test cr ...

(1937–2008) * Raywat DeonandanPetamber Persaud
"Winners at a glance"
Preserving our literary Heritage , Literary Corner, ''Guyana Chronicle'', 29 July 2007, p. IV. *

Brenda DoHarris Brenda Chester DoHarris (born 9 June 1946) is a writer and academic from Guyana. Career Doharris was born in Georgetown, British Guiana and attended Bishops' High School on scholarship. Her education and experience growing up in rural Kitty were ...

(b. 1946)

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* Michael Gilkes (1933–2020) *

Beryl Gilroy Beryl Agatha Gilroy (''née'' Answick; 30 August 1924 – 4 April 2001) was a Guyanese educator, novelist, ethno-psychotherapist, and poet. ''The Guardian'' described her as "one of Britain's most significant post-war Caribbean migrants." She emi ...

(1924–2001) *

David A. Granger David Arthur Granger (born 15 July 1945) is a retired military officer who served as the 9th President of Guyana from May 2015 to August 2020. He served for a time as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and subsequently as National Security A ...

(b. 1945) * Cy Grant (1919–2010) *

Stanley Greaves Stanley Greaves (born 1934)Rupert Roopnarine"Master Maker: Stanley Greaves" ''Caribbean Beat'', Issue 72 (March/April 2005). is a Guyanese painter and writer who is one of the Caribbean's most distinguished artists. Writing in 1995 at the tim ...

(b. 1935)

H

* Wilson Harris (1921–2018) * Roy Heath (1926–2008) *

Abdur Rahman Slade Hopkinson Slade Hopkinson (1934 – 1993) was a Guyana-born poet, playwright, actor and teacher. Early life Slade Hopkinson was born into a middle-class family in New Amsterdam, Guyana. His father was a barrister-at-law, and his mother a nurse. A few years ...

(1934–1993)

J

* Janet Jagan (1920–2009) * George James (1893–1956) *

Meiling Jin Meiling Jin (born 1963) is a Guyanese author, radio broadcaster, playwright, and filmmaker who currently lives in London, England. Biography In 1963, Meiling Jin was born in Guyana to parents of Chinese ancestry. She has one sibling, a twin sis ...

(b. 1956) * Ruel Johnson

K

Laxmi Kallicharan Latchmie Kumarie Vainmati Kallicharran (5 June 1951 – 20 January 2002) was a Guyanese writer. She was one of the pioneers of Indo-Guyanese cultural awareness. She also organized and presented cultural programmes, the first being Lalla-Rookh. Sh ...

(1951–2002) *

Kampta Karran Kampta Karran (died June 5, 2013) was a Guyanese sociologist and author. Karran had a distinguished record in the service of local publishing in Guyana, where he edited and published the journal ''Offerings'' and was active in working towards a r ...

(d. 2013) *

Oonya Kempadoo Oonya Kempadoo (born 1966) is a novelist who was born in the United Kingdom of Guyana, Guyanese parentage, her father being the writer Peter Kempadoo. Biography Born in Sussex, England, "of mixed Indian, African, Scottish, and Amerindian descent", ...

(b. 1966) *

Peter Kempadoo Peter "Lauchmonen" Kempadoo (1926 – 24 August 2019) was a writer and broadcaster from Guyana. He also worked as a development worker in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. He moved in 1953 to the UK, where he built a career in print journalism a ...

(1926–2019) *

Harischandra Khemraj Harischandra Khemraj (born 1944) is a writer from Guyana. He was born and grew up on a sugar estate in West Bank Demerara, where his parents were both sugar workers in the 1940s. He attended school in Guyana and Howard University in the United Sta ...

(b. 1944) *

Karen King-Aribisala Karen Ann King-Aribisala (born Guyana) is a Nigerian novelist, and short story writer. She is a Professor of English at the University of Lagos. Education She was educated at the International School Ibadan, St. George's British International ...

* Freddie Kissoon (b. 1951) *

Eusi Kwayana Eusi Kwayana, formerly Sydney King (born 4 April 1925), is a Guyanese politician. A cabinet minister in the People's Progressive Party (PPP) government of 1953, he was detained by the British Army in 1954. Later he left the PPP to form ASCRIA (A ...

(b. 1925)

M

Sharon Maas Sharon Maas (born 1951) is a Guyanese-born novelist, who was educated in England, lived in India, and subsequently in Germany and in Sussex, United Kingdom. She is the author of ''The Sugar Planters Daughter.'' Biography Maas was born in Georg ...

(b. 1951) * Yolanda T. Marshall (b. 1978) * Egbert Martin (1861–1890) * Wordsworth McAndrew (1936–2008) * Ian McDonald (b. 1933) *

Mark McWatt Mark McWatt (born 29 September 1947) is a Guyanese writer and former professor of English at University of the West Indies. Biography McWatt was born in Guyana, attending many schools throughout the country due to his father's position as a dis ...

(b. 1947) *

Marc Matthews Marc Matthews (born 1940s) is a Guyana, Guyanese writer, actor, broadcaster and producer. Biography Marc Matthews was born in British Guiana in the 1940s. He received, he reports, "a mid-Victorian education" at Queen's College, Guyana, Queen's Coll ...

(b. 1940s) * Pauline Melville (b. 1948) *

Edgar Mittelholzer Edgar Austin Mittelholzer (16 December 1909 – 5 May 1965) was a Guyanese novelist, the earliest novelist from the West Indian region to establish himself in Europe and gain a significant European readership.Michael Hughes, ''A Companion to Wes ...

(1909–1965) * Paloma Mohamed * Rooplal MonarPetamber Persaud
"Preserving Our Literary Heritage: Small Presses and the Guyana Prize"
''Guyana Chronicle'', 29 November 2015.

N

* Moses Nagamootoo (b. 1947) *

Grace Nichols Grace Nichols FRSL (born 1950) is a Guyanese poet who moved to Britain in 1977, before which she worked as a teacher and journalist in Guyana. Her first collection, ''I is a Long-Memoried Woman'' (1983), won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. In D ...

(b. 1950) * Elly Niland (b. 1954)

P

* Mike Phillips (b. 1941)

R

Peter Ramsaroop Peter R. Ramsaroop (born 20 June 1962) is a Guyanese entrepreneur, author, and politician. On 2 October 2020 he was appointed by the President of the Cooperative of Guyana, His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali as Guyana's Chief Investment Offi ...

(b. 1962) * Angus Richmond (1925–2007) *

John R. Rickford John Russell Rickford (born September 16, 1949) is a Guyanese–American academic and author. Rickford is the J. E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Linguistics and the Humanities at Stanford University's Department of Linguistics and the Stanford ...

(b. 1949) * Walter Rodney (1942–1980) * Gordon Rohlehr (1942–2023) *

Rupert Roopnaraine Rupert Roopnaraine (born 31 January 1943) is a Guyanese cricketer, writer, and politician. Roopnaraine served as Minister of Education of Guyana between 2015 and 2017. Biography Roopnaraine was born in Kitty, Georgetown, Guyana. In 1954, ...

(b. 1943)

S

* Lloyd Searwar (1925–2006) *

Clem Seecharan Clem Seecharan (born 1950) is a Guyanese writer and historian of the Indo-Caribbean experience, and of West Indies cricket. He was born in Guyana and has been based in England since 1986.

(b. 1950) * Berkley Semple"Berkley Semple"
Guyana Prize for Literature. *

A. J. Seymour Arthur James Seymour (12 January 1914 – 25 December 1989), or A. J. Seymour, was a Guyanese poet, essayist, memoirist, and founding editor of the literary journal '' Kyk-Over-Al''. Biography Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, to James Tudor ...

(1914–1989) * Ryhaan Shah * Narmala Shewcharan * Jan Shinebourne (b. 1947) * Rajkumari Singh (1923–1979) * Gokarran Sukhdeo

T

* Maya Tiwari (b. 1952)

V

Ian Valz Ian Michael Valz (August 28, 1957 in Georgetown – April 28, 2010 in St. Maarten) was a Guyanese playwright, award-winning filmmaker, and actor. On April 28, 2010 he died of cancer at St. Maarten Medical Center. Life and career Valz was born o ...

(1957–2010)

W

Eric D. Walrond Eric Derwent Walrond (18 December 1898 – 8 August 1966) was an Afro-Caribbean Harlem Renaissance writer and journalist. Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, the son of a Barbadian mother and a Guyanese father, Walrond was well-travelled, ...

(1898–1966) * Denis Williams (1923–1998) *

N. D. Williams N. D. "Wyck" Williams (born 1942 in Guyana) is a New York-based writer. Biography Born in Guyana, Williams went to Jamaica as a student to study at University of the West Indies at Mona in 1968. As a student he witnessed the riots following stud ...

(b. 1942)

Y

* Shana Yardan (1943–1989)Al Creighton
"A brief look at Guyanese Independence literature"
''

Stabroek News The ''Stabroek News'' is a privately owned newspaper published in Guyana. It takes its name from ''Stabroek'' , the former name of Georgetown, Guyana. It was first published in November 1986, first as a weekly but it later changed to a daily prin ...

'', 29 May 2016.

References

* Al Creighton
"A brief look at Guyanese Independence literature"
''

'', 29 May 2016. * Petamber Persaud
"Winners at a glance"
Preserving our literary Heritage , Literary Corner, ''Guyana Chronicle'', 29 July 2007, p. IV. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guyanese writers Guyanese writers Guyanese

writers A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, plays ...

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See also

References