NALIS honours first time authors

Thirty-seven first time authors were selected for honours at the function last Wednesday.

Minister of Public Administration and Communications, Maxie Cuffie in delivering the feature address said literature had done a lot for the country which has produced three Nobel prize winners in the persons of VS Naipaul; Sir Derek Walcott and Sir Arthur Lewis who won the prize in Economics.

Cuffie told the first time authors that when they write and are published, they add to a rich store of information of the country and every book that is written and published adds to that historical store and further cements the country’s history.

He said this year the country was recognising a special first time author, its Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, although he noted that he was not the first prime minister to be published while in office. He said that the late Dr Eric Williams also published his autobiography, Inward Hunger, the Education of a Prime Minister, while he was Prime Minister.

He observed that this year NALIS is recognising the author, Michael Anthony, for his work Green Days by the River, which is to be made into a movie scheduled for release in September.

He said this will go even further in establishing the literary presence of the country’s authors.

Cuffie said the 37 first time authors will add to Trinidad and Tobago’s 267 already published writers, telling them their names will be forever etched into the country’s history and they will be recognised internationally. Cuffie advised the authors to get a number from the International Standard Book Numbering System (ISBN), saying that when they have such a number in their books it means that they have the support of a recognised publisher and it is much easier to get their books sold locally and internationally and purchased by libraries. Acting deputy executive director of NALIS Catherine Romain said the ISBN numbers are available at the National Library.

Among those present was former Newsday editor, John Babb, who represented Suzanne Mills. Suzanne was to be honoured for completing work on the book Byline — Memoirs of Therese Mills, a work begun by her mother, Newsday’s late editor-in-chief.

Babb recalled that he and Therese Mills were friends since 1946 when they worked together at the Port-of-Spain Gazette, adding that Mills would later start the Newsday, confounding the naysayers who insisted that three daily newspapers would not survive in the local media market.