Ian Randle Publishers to get literary service award

The 2019 Bocas Henry Swanzy Award will be presented to Ian Randle, chairman of Ian Randle Publishers Ltd during the annual literary festival from May 1-5.

“I am elated and at the same time humbled by this award, moreso because of the high esteem in which I hold the Bocas Lit Fest and what it has done to elevate Caribbean writing and publishing. It is as much a personal tribute as it is reassurance that the work we do at Ian Randle Publishers is valued and appreciated,” Randle said. Since 2013, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest has honoured Swanzy’s memory and recognised the achievements of editors, broadcasters, critics, and others via the annual Bocas Henry Swanzy Award.

Ian Randle Publishers was founded in 1990 as the Caribbean's first commercial scholarly publishing company and the 26 year old company has published dozens of titles by Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora authors. Randle is a graduate of the University of the West Indies (UWI) with a degree in history, and the University of Southampton, UK where he read international politics as a Commonwealth scholar. He has over 45 years experience as a local, regional and international publisher across all genres and at all levels. His early career was in the field of educational publishing, where between 1985 and 1990 he produced landmark textbook titles for both the elementary and secondary school systems of the English-speaking Caribbean in partnership with the British firm Heinemann Educational Books. Some of these books are still used by students across the region.

The publishing house is recognised regionally and internationally for the publications of books on and about the Caribbean, particularly in the area of Caribbean culture, encompassing its history, politics, the arts, biography, literature and the law, as well as contemporary topics, such as the media, gender issues, food security and education. Its undergraduate textbooks in Caribbean history, politics, the economy and sociology are widely used by students in universities in the Caribbean and increasingly for courses in Caribbean Studies in universities in North America, the UK and Europe.

Randle has consulted widely with regional governments and institutions in the training of personnel in the area of materials production for the educational system and in the development and production of primary legal materials for the court systems of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the OECS countries.

At the international level, he lectured for many years at the University of Denver Publishing Institute in the area of international publishing and served as a panel member at the annual conference of Ford Fellows advising postgraduate fellows on publishing. He has presented papers at Congresses of the International Publishers Association and at other international fora including the Commonwealth Ministers of Education conference. Most recently he was a member of the vice chancellor’s One UWI task force established to make recommendations on the re-integration of the four campuses of UWI into one functioning regional institution. He has served on the Caricom prime ministers’ task force on culture and currently sits on the Board of the Interim Festival Directorate of the Caribbean Festival of Arts. Recently he initiated the conceptualisation and launch of the University of Guyana Press.

Randle is the recipient of the Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica and the Jamaican National Honour, the Order of Distinction, both for services to publishing. In 2012, he was named a Laureate of the Prince Claus Foundation of the Netherlands, one of ten selected from across the world “for his leadership in reclaiming local ownership of Caribbean intellectual property; for publishing foundational resources of local knowledge; for transcending language barriers to build capacities in Caribbean publishing and increase the dissemination of Caribbean thought to the rest of the world; and for championing independent local publishing and self-representation in other post-colonial contexts”. In 2013, his alma mater The UWI, St Augustine campus awarded him an honorary degree in recognition of services to TT and the Caribbean.

The NGC Bocas Lit Festival will be held at the National Library and adjoining Old Fire Station.

See wwwbocaslitfest.com for full festival programme and more information