Andrew Lindsay

Andrew has always had a strong interest in the life and works of Robert Burns, and is a past president of St Andrews Burns Club, one of the oldest in Scotland. His partner Eve is a daughter of the late Denis Williams, the distinguished Guyanese archaeologist, author and artist, and Andrew now regards Guyana as his second home. The more he grew aware of the history of the once great Demerara sugar plantations, the more he became intrigued by Burns’ virtual silence on the subject of the slave trade, particularly since the poet had seriously contemplated emigrating to the West Indies. The result was Illustrious Exile(2006).

He is a past winner of the Sloan Prize for Scots writing with a short story The Ken-Sign, which remains unpublished. He is currently gathering materials for a collection of short stories based on the varied experiences of ‘returnees’ in Guyana. As a Scot in Guyana his own experiences raise issues of identity that he is exploring further in poetry and prose.