Dear Editor,
It has been almost four years now since my letter on the urgent need of a “Dictionary of Guyanese National Biography” first appeared in Stabroek News which was further followed up by two additional letters in the four dailies ever since. Responses were overwhelming and enthusiastic but no concrete steps were taken, mainly due to the lockdown brought about by COVID-19.

Now that things are reopening,  I want to make a start just as I did with my pioneering work on “Bibliography of Guyana”  and “Encyclopedia of the Guyanese Amerindians” – both of which are now used by some prestigious institutions around the globe including both our own UG and UWI.

I have been compiling the names for potential entries in the proposed biography project over the years and have managed to build a short profile of each gathered from the Internet, the Guyana newspapers, reference books, magazines, and other authoritative sources.

I sincerely want to start this project while waiting on others to join in including support and funding for publication from UG and the Guyana Government. Once there is a first edition put out, it can serve as the foundation on which to build and expand. The thing is to get something out there which will bound to instigate others to submit profiles of other Guyanese who might have been unintentionally missed and who have excelled in their own disciplines.

So, I ask you to send me a profile of prominent Guyanese who you feel should be chronicled in this proposed “Dictionary of Guyanese National Biography”. A half-page might suffice. Once I receive the profiles, I will start editing, validate the information, organise it alphabetically, ensure compliance with established documentation and publishing standards and prepare in a format suitable for publishing.

I am targeting an initial completion of September of this year 2022.

Yours sincerely,
Lal Balkaran