Guyanese author writes ‘My
First Book About Masquerade’
By Tangerine Clarke
The rhythm of a traditional
Christmas spectacle of music
and dance, seen on the streets
of Guyana is told in “My First
Book About Masquerade,” Dr.
Juliet Emanuel’s children’s
coloring and activities volume,
about the practice of masquerade
in Guyana through a child’s
eyes.
Created for children between
the ages of five and nine and
released just in time to stuff
their Christmas stockings, the
paperback, illustrated by Guyana
Cultural Association Cultural
Director, Claire A Goring,
is bold with colorful characters,
and introduces the little ones to
masquerade traditions.
The main characters, instruments
and the basic shapes of
masquerade costumes, squares,
triangles, circles and rectangles,
allows for learning, as well
as coloring, to bring to life the
vibrancy, and merriment that
makes this tradition so entertaining.
The book comes with a
packet of markers for coloring.
Emanuel, secretary of the
Guyana Cultural Association,
(GCA), and a director of the Arts
in the Community Summer
workshops, said she listened to
the rhetoric on cultural imperatives
and contemporary education
in the Guyanese academic
curriculum during a GCA
symposium, and was inspired
Caribbean Life, D 22 ecember 11-17, 2020
to publish the book that has
received rave reviews.
“I got the idea to write the
book after I listened to the rhetoric
on cultural imperatives
and contemporary education in
the Guyanese academic curriculum,”
said Emanuel who
plans to write future volumes to
educate readers about Guyana’s
rich cultural heritage.
“This is book #1 in a series
on masquerade, each advancing
in composition of text and comparative
diasporic exercises,”
she explained, adding, that the
volume now being sold by Guyana
Cultural Association NY
Inc., is a limited copy production,
and becoming something
of a collector’s item.
“For a book of this type some
research was necessary. I gathered
a few insights from a symposium
on the subject held in
Guyana,” she noted, sharing
that presenters at that event
came from various parts of the
Caribbean.
Dr. Emanuel, an award-winning
poet, and former contributing
Dr. Juliet Emanuel. Photo by Tangerine Clarke
editor for The Caribbean
Voice, said there is a global
experience in the art of masquerade.
“You may call the act
of masquerade a pretense, a
removal from the reality of the
daily experience, an escape into
another realm of being; you
may wonder about class; religion;
history,” expounded the
former certified early childhood
teacher.
A professor at Borough of
Manhattan Community College
in the City University of
New York, (BMCC/CUNY) Dr.
Emanuel, encourages everyone
to read the children’s book,
since it is an introduction to a
part of the culture of Guyana.
Book cover of “My First
Book about Masquerade” by
Dr. Juliet Emanuel. Photo by
Tangerine Clarke
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Commissioner