This week we sing the praise for two iconic Guyanese – David Dabydeen and Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett. Let us not choose boorishness or ungraciousness; whether or not we love all our country’s realities, we can still love our national ideals. Out of conquest, slavery, and indentured servants, David and Carolyn remind us that our people continue to rise triumphantly.
No matter how polarised Guyanese society might be because of ethnicity and politics, we were proud of Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kalicharran, Clive Llyod, Lance Gibbs, Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and others in cricket. No matter what our politics, race and ethnicity, we celebrated their success as if it were our own success. They made us all proud Guyanese.
As of this very moment, two Guyanese are in the spotlight on the global stage. David Dabydeen was a nominee for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, and Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett is a candidate for the Secretary General of the United Nations. Whether they win or not, they have already achieved a level that is reserved for only a handful in a world of almost eight billion people. No matter our politics, race, ethnicity, or whether we are rich or poor, no matter which part of Guyana we are from, whether we live in or out of Guyana, we must all be proud of these two iconic Guyanese sisters and brothers. They represent the very best among us.
The Nobel Prize Committee in Stockholm, Sweden, has announced their awardees for 2026. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2026 was awarded to Anne Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” Canadians have been in full celebration since the announcement that one of their own has wo n the Nobel Prize. Even if she had not won the Nobel Prize, Canadians had already expressed their great joy that one of their own had been nominated for this prestigious award.
As it turned out, Guyanese also must be proud because among the nominees for the 2026 Nobel Prize award for Literature was one of our own – David Dabydeen. David is not a product of a rich family. Out of rural Guyana, David is one of the distinguished Guyanese and Caribbean writers. He is worthy of celebration. Just as the Canadians are proud of Anne Carson, we must be proud of David Dabydeen. Another Guyanese from humble beginnings has risen to the top and has added to Guyana’s proud legacy of outstanding achievements, particularly in literature.
David Dabydeen earned recognition among his peers in Europe, the UK and China, and they formally nominated him for the 2026 Nobel Prize. Win or not, the nomination was an acknowledgement and a recognition of his decades-long contribution to world literature. But the nomination also brought him and his country and all Guyanese into the international spotlight.
For the few Guyanese who might still not know of David, he was born in Central Corentyne, raised in New Amsterdam, and then studied and honed his skills in the UK. After leaving Guyana as a teenager, he attended Cambridge University in England, where he studied English at Selwyn College in the 1970s. He has been a fixture for decades at Warwick University, helping to shape scholarship on post-colonial literature and Caribbean cultural history. For decades now he has been one of the Caribbean’s most respected literary voices through his novels, poetry and essays. His distinguished works over decades have examined how Caribbean lives have been impacted by conquest, slavery, colonialism, and migration. His distinguished literary career must not obscure his public service, having served as Guyana’s ambassador to UNESCO and to China.
Carolyn Rodrigues is in the running for the Secretary General of the UN. This is the top public servant in the world. Imagine a Guyanese young lady born to an Arawak family in Santa Rosa in Region One could be the Secretary General and the number one and most powerful public servant in the world, coming from what used to be an obscure little village in Guyana’s hinterland. Growing up without running water, no electricity and studying with an oil lamp, she has emerged as one of the most distinguished Guyanese on the global stage. Politics, race, ethnicity and whatever other excuse we might have must not dim the light that this young Guyanese woman has brought over our country. We celebrate her achievements, whether she is elected or not. As it is with David Dabydeen, winning is a bonus. Being chosen as a possible Nobel Prize winner or the possible Secretary General of the UN are already victories that belong to all of us.
We have endured conquest, slavery, colonialism, 60 years of ups and downs, lows and highs since independence, and even periods of dictatorship, but we have always been a proud people, steadfastly refusing to bend our backs, always keeping our heads held high. Our forebears fought for freedom so that their descendants might prosper. They never imagined that one day their descendants would have made them proud beyond their own imagination and dreams. Every single day, Guyanese in their communities, some in the spotlights, some in total obscurity, make the dreams of our ancestors come true.
Whether it is a farmer in Lethem or some village somewhere producing onions that our former colonial masters told us cannot be grown in Guyana, whether it is in Black Bush Polder or Moruka or Wismar, making food security a reality in our country and in our Caribbean Region, whether it is in the global spotlight of the UN in New York or in the Home of the Nobel Prize, we can sing of our country: “Tis of thee, late land of slavery, of thee I sing.”