Wordsworth McAndrew (22 November 1936 – 25 April 2008) was a leading

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

, poet, radio broadcaster, and creative artist.

Biography

McAndrew was born on 22 November 1936 in Georgetown,

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

, to Winslow Alexander McAndrew and Ivy McAndrew. His father was a schoolteacher, musician and catechist, who taught in rural Anglican schools. McAndrew was raised in

Cummingsburg Cummingsburg, or historically Cumingsburg, is a ward in Georgetown, Guyana. It began as 500-acre plantation, La Bourgade about 1759. When Thomas Cumming, a Scotsman, bought the property, he developed a town plan with residential and commercial lot ...

and, from the age of 12, in Newtown, Kitty. He attended "Teacher" Marshall Kindergarten School, Christ Church Primary School and Queen's College. Through his work as a radio broadcaster during the 1960s and 1970s, he helped the Guyanese recognize and feel proud of their mythological and folkloric heritage. He studied and celebrated Guyanese language and culture, using all media available to explain and promote Guyanese cultural characteristics. McAndrew died on 25 April 2008, at the East Orange Hospital, in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, where he had been living in self-imposed exile. In 2015, he was posthumously awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement by President

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 ...

Legacy

The

Wordsworth McAndrew Award The Wordsworth McAndrew Awards celebrate Guyanese who have made important contributions to the country's cultural life. Awardees' talents include broadcasting, cultural promotion, drama, music, painting, theatre, and writing. The awards, founded ...

, founded in 2002 to celebrate Guyanese who have made important contributions to the country's cultural life, was named in his honour. In 2015, Wordsworth's former wife, Rosie McAndrew, published a memoir which covers Wordsworth's Radio/TV training in England, his early broadcasting career in Guyana, their relationship, marriage and the birth of his second daughter. The book features letters written in his own words and some of his poetry.

References

External links

"Wordsworth McAndrew - A Guyanese National Treasure"
eCaroh Caribbean Emporium.

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAndrew, Wordsworth 1936 births 2008 deaths 20th-century poets 20th-century male writers Guyanese culture Guyanese poets Guyanese radio presenters Guyanese writers People from Georgetown, Guyana