Racing with the Rain

by Ken Puddicombe

Middleroad Publishing

Ken Puddicombe, author of Down Independence Boulevard And Other Stories, winner of the Guyana Prize For Literature (Fiction 2022), captures a nostalgic look-back at life in the British Colony in The Before and The After independence in twenty-three poems.

The Before captures the weather in the pre-independence period with poems Rainy Season and Tropical Rain and Aftermath, indentureship in The Bonded, characters like The Town Crier and Lincoln who were clearly influential in his early childhood observations, the impact of the cinema in the colony in the person of Reds The Scalper who sold tickets at a marked-up price outside the cinema, and Rioters during the disturbances when Georgetown’s business district was devastated by arson and looting.

The After touches on the post-independence era with the impact on the social life of the new nation (Moving Sidewalks, The Punt Trench, Roadside Vendor), people displaced during the disturbances (The Refugee) and a nostalgic look at a period long gone (Life In The Countryside, Not Coming Home, Echoes).

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Madawaska Highlander Connection

Ken Puddicombe is one of the judges in the Madawaska Highlander's Short Story Contest. He is a Guyanese-Canadian author living in Brampton and a member of a number of writers circles including the Brampton Writers Guild where he met Garry Ferguson and fellow Short Story judge, Michael Joll. He is a retired accountant who founded MiddleRoad Publishers primarily to provide a platform for "struggling authors" and to ensure that literary works—especially those reflecting Caribbean and Canadian experiences—"see the light of day."

 

His motivations were driven by a mix of personal history, a desire to mentor others, and the practical challenges he observed in the publishing world. This philosophy matches what the Short Story Contest is all about. 

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