As Guyana celebrated its 50th anniversary, it was also a milestone year for “The Guyana Annual” magazine, which also celebrated 100 years since it was first published.
The 2017 edition of the magazine, launched at Guyenterprise on Friday, is designed to highlight Guyana’s evolving culture and our national patrimony.
This year’s edition was a collaborative effort between Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh and local
Local literary activist and writer Petamber Persaud handing over a copy the magazine to a representative from the National Library
literary activist and writer Petamber Persaud.
The publication focuses on the golden anniversary of Guyana’s independence, the centenary of the magazine and the centenary of the founding of the Berbice High School, the school where Dr Singh received his secondary education.
In his remarks, Dr Singh said that he was very grateful to have his input in this year’s magazine because of its significance in Guyana.
He and Persaud, however, explained that sales of the magazine were very poor and called for more support from Guyanese.
Also present at the launch was former Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green, who also contributed to this year’s magazine and called for the younger generation to take up the challenge of getting on board to ensure that the magazine continued to be printed each year.
Copies of the magazine were handed over to the National Library where it will be available for sale.
The magazine was founded in December 1915 and has outlived many similar publications, undergoing numerous modifications to meet the needs of its readership and to carry out its mandate which is to preserve our identity and cultural integrity. The magazine serves to preserve Guyana’s literary heritage and contains amazing articles and information.
The most noticeable change to “The Guyana Annual” over the years was its name, it started life as the “Chronicle Christmas Annual”, was renamed the “Guyana Christmas Annual” and in the new millennium was labelled “The Guyana Annual” becoming a perennial magazine instead of a year-end, Christmas-oriented publication.
The main rival of The Annual was the “Christmas Tides”, produced by the Argosy newspaper. The Tides went out of publication in 1950. Other rivals – “The Caribia”, produced by BG Lithographic, and “The Pepperpot”, published by Bookers – had short life spans.
