Dr. Paloma Mohamed is one of the most prolific academics (communication and behavioural studies) and creative writers (playwright, script-writer and poet) in the region. A key figure in Guyana’s culture and academe, she has been producing creative work since the age of 13, and has, to date, won the Guyana Prize on three occasions (1998, 2000 and 2008). She is recognized as one of the most influential figures in the Guyanese and Caribbean cultural landscape.
Dr Mohamed has written and had performed more than 30 plays, and published two collections of poetry with a third expected this year. She has also branched into film, and has been executive producer on 32 films. She has published nine books of creative work and has been involved in 14 major arts projects, including Healing Arts, one which teaches children to write for other children. In 2010, she developed KIDSTAGE, the first and only televised children’s talent series in Guyana . She is the founder of Healing Arts Guyana Inc., a founding director of Moray House Trust and is chair of the Theatre Guild of Guyana.
In addition to contributing to the writing of the drama syllabus for CAPE, her creative works have been placed on both the syllabi of CSEC and CAPE, as well being used as test pieces for students at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts at the University of the West Indies and the University of Maryland. She has been active in adjudicating drama competitions throughout the region, from the secondary school to the international levels. As an arts advocate she has developed policy in conjunction with national and international agencies, like CARICOM, the United Nations, and several national bodies such as the Ministry of Culture.
As a filmmaker, she produced the first Guyanese full-length movie (Jezebel – The Movie (1992), (shot on video), co-organized the first Guyanese film festival in the US, and recently founded CineGuyana Inc. As an academic, Dr Mohamed is the outgoing Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, at the University of Guyana, and has worked with various UN agencies (like the UNDP and UNFPA) to produce reports and conduct projects on topics as diverse as adolescent sexual and reproductive rights, and the status of young artists in the region.
Her books include The Massacuraman (2014), Duenne (2013) (1998, Guyana Prize winner), A Man Called Garvey (2001) and Caribbean Mythology and Modern Life 5 Plays for Young People (2003). Her plays include Testament (2008), Father of the Man (2002), Trouble in Paradise (1996). Her academic publications include Notes on the media in Guyana (2014), Communications, Power and Change in the Caribbean (2013), and Media Trends: Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media 2007-2009, among many others.
