To mark Mining Week…
GUYANESE writer and artist  Barrington Braithwaite handed over a copy of his ”Illustrated History of the Porkknocker” to Prime Minister  Samuel Hinds at a  reception to mark the launching of the new book and  the beginning of Mining Week 2010.
The venue was the Regency Suite Hotel and copies of the book went on sale during the event.
At the launching, Braithwaite said that the book was meant to encourage reading about the stories of the early porkknockers in a media that was visually attractive rather than dull and textually heavy.
“In this day and age of television and the internet, I felt that I would be better able to get our people, particularly our young people, to read and learn by presenting the material in an attractive package.’
The book, in what some describe as comic book format,  was done in close collaboration with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.
In remarks, Commissioner of the Commission, William Woolford, described it as a well researched and beautifully illustrated work of art.
He said that the Commission was very pleased to have been associated with its production.
Braithwaite is a former porkknocker and an artist who has achieved national acclaim for such works as the play “Legend of the Silk Cotton Tree”, cartoons such as  “Times of Vincent”, “Bugs”, “The Price” and “The Ornate Goblet”.

And more recently, there were weekend cartoons featuring the mystic character “The Elder” , also the “Jaguar Trilogy” , “Lost Sheep”, “The Unholy Pact” , “Crab Barrel” and serious but funny, the “Deliverance Of Clyde.”

He is also known for the illustrated historical “The 1834 Abolition” which he co-authored with Tommy Payne the veteran archivist; and the social commentary, “The Trials of Nathan”, a comic strip written by Ovid Isaacs.

On receiving his signed copy, Prime Minister Hinds observed that the early porkknockers were responsible for many of the well known folk songs which are a part of Guyanese culture.
He lamented the fact that there had been no new songs in recent times about life in the hinterland.

He urged miners to invite relatives and friends to visit their camps and experience life there.
“I have been to some camps myself. It has been a great experience,” he said.

The “Illustrated history of the porkknocker” is currently on sale at the Commission’s library on Hadfield Street, at $1000.
The Commission’s Information and Documentation Officer, Mrs Beatrice Allison Roberts-Austin, says that it will be available at a leading bookstore in Georgetown shortly.