KEVIN Garbaran, one of the few Guyanese writers to be shortlisted for the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize has had his shortlisted story, “The Ol’ Higue on Market Street” published in the Stabroek News’ new literary arts column. The fact that the newspaper outlet has offered up precious space in their Sunday editions through this new initiative called ‘The Writers’ Room’ is a move that finally recognises local writing as being worthy of dissemination to the reading public, and I know that writers are excited about the possibility for exposure that this offers. The Stabroek News needs to be specially commended for providing a space for publication for local writers – something which the entire Department of Culture itself has failed to provide for writers in recent years.

The value of the kind of space that ‘The Writers’ Room’ provides became more pronounced when I reread Garbaran’s story which was the first one published under the new column. I had read the story before, but the column allowed me the chance to read it again, which is all that was required for me to be able to appreciate it in a new light by recognising some aspects of its literary strength that I had missed the first time around and that Guyanese folklore in Guyanese fiction, written by a Guyanese writer, being published in a Guyanese newspaper, was such a rarity and was indeed a cause for celebration – not only of good local writing, but also of people who are willing to invest in local writers and grant them the necessary opportunities, even if that opportunity is one that grants them an audience.
Now, on to the story. “The Ol’ Higue on Market Street” tells the story of a young girl named Devika who lives on the Essequibo coast and enjoys telling jumbie stories to her friends in school. The descriptions of Devika’s experiences in school, as well as the dynamics of her family life, which includes her mandir-going mother and gossipy aunt (Cha Chee), as well as her abusive, alcoholic father, all set along a village that is close to the seawall, is very evocative of life in the Guyanese countryside. The descriptions are filled with nostalgia, imparting a sense of a world that is both familiar and fading away. The author’s description of a night with blackout, for example, is vivid and beautiful: “No lights, no electric fans, no running water. Just the silky moonlight reflecting off the branches of the coconut palm, a sky full of dancing stars, the smell of mosquito coils burning in the air, and the sounds of mosquitos singing in your ears even though you have two mosquito coils burning. Many a Jumbie story had been told on nights like these.”

Garbaran writes his dialogue in a version of Guyanese Creole, which imparts the realism of the story by imparting the nuances of real speech that people in Guyana use. The Creole is also a welcome addition to the oeuvre of work by local writers, particularly because it emerges amid many pieces of writing by other writers where Standard English is the norm, even when Guyanese characters are speaking. Creole also accentuates the humour in the story. Even though the tale contains several dark elements, several other elements work in a comedic or melodramatic way, transforming the story from being merely folk-horror or tragedy into something unique that blends the tragic and the comic. The character of Cha Chee, for example, is a staple of the Guyanese countryside experience. Her description of another character in the story is one of the funniest things I have ever read by a local writer: “Boy that is true. Old Lady Pearl look like she dead since Jagan was president but like she don’t want to give up she spirit.”

Further, as a work of fiction, “The Ol’ Higue on Market Street” conveys several strengths of literature. Firstly, it tells an engaging story that keeps the reader interested, not only because of the familiarity of its Guyanese-ness, but also because it is a tense, well-written tale that plays on our fear of the supernatural while also functioning as a mirror that is held up to the reader and reflects the society in which we live. The othering of people who are old or odd is a technique that has been used for centuries to lay blame at the feet of scapegoats while allowing humans to escape the self-scrutiny that their fears and mistakes require. Furthermore, subtly, the story is pretty much about abuse and inherited trauma, as well as the secrecy and taboo that is associated with abuse in the home. It is implied that the characters blame their bruises on the ol’ higue rather than dealing with the truth of an abusive father within the household. It is a stark reminder of the scourge of abuse, a disease that continues to plague the entire country even to this day.

Garbaran being shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the Stabroek News’ publication of local work are two of the most significant events that have emerged in the Guyanese literary landscape this year. I eagerly await the future editions of ‘The Writers’ Room,’ where I am sure the best in Guyanese literature will continue to be represented.

Writers who are interested in having their work published in the Stabroek News’ ‘The Writers’ Room,’ can submit their work or email for more details at: writersroom@stabroeknews.com.