(Extract of an interview with Mosa M. Telford, September 2013, Georgetown, Guyana. Telford won the 2012 Guyana Prize for Literature in the category of Drama. The Prize was awarded in September 2013. Mosa M. Telford is a playwright (radio and stage), and short-story writer. Her prizewinning short-story was published in The Guyana Annual magazine.)

PP: I am excited, really, really excited about what has happened recently to our literature, and what is likely to come out of this. I’m referring to the awarding of The 2012 Guyana Prize for Literature. What happened? Four of the five winners were locally-based Guyanese writers, including you, Mosa. So, first things first: Congratulations!
MMT: Thank you, Petamber…

PP: Congratulations for winning that Prize in the category of Drama. And thank you for your contribution to what I would call ‘A new day in Guyanese literature’; a sort of renaissance. Four locally-based writers winning prizes. This is historical! And this is a moment we ought to build on. And there’s more: Three of the winning entries were submitted as manuscripts!
For a minute, let’s relive that moment (I know you must be reliving it frequently) when the Chief Judge announced clearly that the panel had no hesitation, no doubt in declaring ‘Sauda’ the winning play, and its author, Mosa Telford, the winning playwright.

MMT: I… I…
PP: Before she [The Chief Judge] made that declaration, she said that ‘Sauda’ is, and I quote, centred on “a thought-provoking subject of a girl who grows up in fear, after her mother continually rejects her because of the darkness of her skin; as a result, she falls into prostitution. The dramaturgy is strong – the dialogue, characterization, pace and timing, all worked, and the way women’s secrets are revealed in the course of the action as suspense and emotional depth…the issues she deals with [are] women sexuality, teenage pregnancy, ingrained racism and prostitution are contemporary. Despite this, it is a very good attempt to dramatise and portray the hypocrisy of social standards.”
I am hoping we could touch on all these things, because I want to focus on the talented writers we have right here in our midst. Let’s ease into that discourse by sharing how you felt at the time of the announcement.

MMT: For me, it was a feeling of satisfaction, a feeling of great accomplishment. Also, it has boosted my confidence as a writer, because, in the past, most of the stuff I’ve written, I always feel to myself that I could have done better. So, I was never really, really happy with my work. So, winning the Guyana Prize has not completely gotten rid of that feeling, but it has reassured me that I could write.
So, as I said before, it had boosted my confidence, and it has now put me under a lot of pressure, because everything I write now has to be of a certain standard; I wouldn’t accept anything else for myself from my work, and I know people will be looking at my work with more interest.
Overall, it is a great feeling, and now I have to move on with my game…

PP: All this is saying is that something good is happening among our writers, and it augurs well for our literature. For one, there are writers, as you said earlier, questioning their work; to me, this is a learning process when the writer comes to such an understanding of their work, where he or she is willing to learn, to hone that skill, to write and rewrite, to appreciate criticism and continue. This is how we develop as writers.
This would surely act as an inspiration: So many locally-based writers winning the prize. I am looking forward to the next round of the Guyana Prize, because we have evidence what locally-based writers can do; how they tackled the issues, the contemporary situations, and we could better relate to how you and the others; and I must mention the others, like Ruel Johnson and Cassia Alphonso; how you handled the issues from within, writing from within the setting. But, back to your winning play. What is ‘Sauda’ about?

MMT: ‘Sauda’ came out of a lot of my personal experience that I have had growing up because of my skin colour. As a child, I was teased a lot by my peers; even some adults would have negative things to say about my skin colour. Going through school was very difficult for me: A lot of times I was depressed; a lot of times I wanted to quit school, due to all the teasing and taunting making me feel that I was not good enough; always feeling there was something wrong with the colour of my skin.
I started getting over that when I was seventeen years old. My grandfather passed away and left numerous books on African History, which I started reading and building pride in myself.

PP: Ah! Reading! We’ll come back to my pet peeve.

MMT: But, all through the years, it was at the back of my head: I need to write something on this issue. So ‘Sauda’ came out of a dream; a lot of my work result from dreams. One night I had this dream about this pregnant young lady who was thrown out of the house by her mother. Next morning, I jotted down the dream, and then started developing the idea.
‘Sauda’ is basically about a dark-skinned girl whose mother never showed her any love, and she felt that something was wrong with the colour of her skin, because of the remarks everyone kept throwing at her.
As a result, she grew up with a low esteem of herself, and is seeking love outside of the home. The upshot is that she finds herself pregnant, not knowing who the father of the child was, and her mother throws her out. A neighbour, who really didn’t have honourable intentions towards her, took her in… But the point I wanted to make at the end of the play is that no matter what people have to say, no matter the negative things people have to say about your complexion, at the end of the day, you are beautiful.

PP: And you are satisfied you’ve made that point in your plot?

MMT: Yes, I was satisfied. But the Chief Judge did say something, in a way, that made it appear that I did something wrong: She said I made all the women victims. But I did that on purpose; I wanted to tell the story from that viewpoint. …all the issues that the women had they blamed them on men.
It took me eight months to write that play, and I am satisfied with my effort.

PP: It was hard work, and it paid off with this win. Let me pick up on something you said earlier about reading those books left by your grandfather, and how it sort of influenced, changed your life…(To be continued…)
(To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)

WHAT’S HAPPENING:
• Your are invited to the launch of ‘An Introduction to Guyanese Literature’ by Petamber Persaud on Friday November 22, 2013, in the Conference Room of the National Library. Starting time: 5 pm (17 hours).
This 150-page-book is a rich collection of Guyanese literary pride and joy, containing more than 100 photographs.