DENNIS Nelson Sr., a 76-year-old author, has created a book titled ‘They Made Us Proud,’ aimed at raising awareness about the achievements of Guyanese individuals in Guyana and around the world.

While this is not his first publication, ‘They Made Us Proud’ marks the first volume of his book series. Within its pages, readers will discover the stories of 68 outstanding individuals from various fields such as politics, literature, performing arts, sports, and music.
The inspiration behind the book struck Nelson when his father, Robert Nelson, passed away. A friend of his father’s read the obituary and commented, “There is nothing much mentioned here about Robert, and especially for the people in New Amsterdam, it would take a book to do this.”

From those words, Nelson continued to think about how many other families have people with outstanding achievements that not many people know about, and so, the idea was born.
Compiling the book involved gathering information from various sources, including relatives of the featured individuals, and some even wrote their own stories.

Nelson and his team ensured the authenticity of the information. The book took a total of four years to complete.
The official launch of Nelson’s book will occur at three locations on different dates. The first launch is scheduled for May 25, 2023, at the Molteenos Sports Club. The second launch will be held on May 29, 2023, at 13:00hrs at the New Amsterdam Town Hall and on May 31, 2023, at 13:00hrs, the third launch will be held at the Linden Library.

For those interested, the book is available for US$20 (GYD 4,000). Additionally, the first 15 buyers will receive special gifts.
According to Nelson’s biography, he is the fifth son of Robert Alexander Nelson and Gladys Nelson. He was born in New Amsterdam Berbice, British Guiana, and attended Saint Ambrose Anglican Primary School.

Nelson then went to Guyana Oriental College and later joined the Government Technical Institute (GTI), where he was the only male student among 24 females in their first commercial education class.

After graduating from GTI, he started working at the Government Printery in the Typesetting Department in 1967. Subsequently, he left the Government Printery to become a salesman for the International Telephone Directory Services. His responsibilities included compiling and printing Guyana’s telephone directory.

Nelson’s passion for printing led him to rejoin the newly formed Guyana Printers Limited in 1971. Guyana Printers brought together the Guyana Lithographic Company, the Guyana Chronicle, and the Government Printery.
During that time, Guyana Printers Limited handled the printing of the daily and Sunday Chronicle newspapers, official government documents, books, and even the laws of Guyana.

Additionally, they prepared and printed other newspapers like the Catholic Standard, New Nation, Green Beret, Guymine News, and the Queens College Lictor.
Dennis worked at Guyana Printers Limited until 1975, when the government established Guyana National Newspapers Limited, separating commercial and newspaper printing.

He was chosen to train linotype operators for the newly acquired TTS machines. Later, he was appointed assistant production manager and occasionally acted as the production manager.
In August 1978, Nelson migrated to the United States and began working at R.S. Rosenbaum & Co., Ltd, a financial printing company, where he managed the typesetting and proofreading departments for 21 years. From 2002 to 2008, he owned and published a biweekly Caribbean newspaper called Caribbean Impact Inc. Moreover, from 2016 to 2017, he managed the New York Edition of the Guyana Chronicle.

Throughout his career, he has typeset and edited numerous books for Guyanese, Caribbean, and American authors. He was also selected by the Guyana Cultural Association Folk Festival 2006 awards committee to receive the prestigious Wordsworth McAndrew Award.

In December 2021, Dennis and his wife migrated to Georgia, and he is now a member of the Guyana Association of Georgia (GAOG). He hopes that his book about the people of Guyana will bring pleasure and new knowledge to every reader.