Maggie Harris wins BEST BOOK OF POETRY AWARD with “I Sing To The Greenhearts”

August 7 2026

“Winning the Guyana Prize is one of my most cherished and honoured awards. Although I left aged 17, Guyana has never left my heart or mind and has shaped me morally, socially, educationally and holistically, and I remain culturally engaged with our unique heritage. My writing consistently places Guyana at its centre and reaches out to not only Guyanese and Caribbean peoples, but to my students, readers and audiences, through multi-dimensional genres.

One can never take winning a prize for granted, Guyana has always and continually produces a wealth of writers with strong voices from Wilson Harris, Martin Carter, David Dabydeen, Tessa McWatt and yourself to name a few. What I am (happily) surprised at is how I Sing To The Greenhearts has touched so many people – from being accepted by Seren Books and supported by their editors Zoe Brigley and Rhian Edwards, to attracting some fantastic reviews, and by winning the Jhalak Prize whose judge, Nikita Gill described it as ‘…one of the most incisive, magical poetry collections of the decade.’ I would have been disappointed if it hadn’t won the Guyana Prize, as I believe in the book and every poem is an honest, sometimes heartbreaking journey towards articulating the possible beauty of poetry. Bringing together the personal and the political in the light of great change, to reach for the right language and explore the link between oil, water, the greenheart tree in a creative way is an exploration all its own.

I’ve always got ideas ticking away, I don’t believe in ‘writers block’. This year I’ve been running workshops inspired by international writing, and have been working with musician Ty Watling to add music to my poems; I’ve also been collaborating with Guyanese digital creator Son De Anansi and Guyanese writers Cosmata Lindie and Sharon U Correia – we are The Berbice River Women and a special production of our poems and stories will be coming your way soon!

I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the Guyana Prize Committee, to Al Creighton, to the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Culture, and to the esteemed judges Prof Alison Donnell, Vladimir Lucien and Shivanee Ramlochan. I owe a great debt to Seren Books for accepting my book and publishing it. I’d also like to congratulate all my fellow Guyanese writers,to Scott Ting-a-Tee and Makeda Brathwaite and all the other fine writers adding their works to the canon of Guyanese writing. “