[1] The first book written on Guyana, by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 16th century, was The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empyre of Guiana (With a Relation of the Great and Golden Citie of Manoa (Which the Spanyards call El Dorado) and of the Provinces of Emeria, Aromaia, Amapaia, and Other Countries, with Their Riulers, Adjoyning (Robert Robinson: London, 1596).
The sparsely populated, pristine hinterlands of Guyana continue to be a subject of interest for contemporary Guyanese literature – this setting can be traced to one of the nation's earliest novels, In Guiana Wilds: A Study Of Two Women (1899), by James Rodway.
[3] Mid-20th century, poetry served as a medium to express the Guyanese identity, in light of independence from British colonial rule and creating a style unique to the country.
[4] The political climate of the mid-20th century of anti-colonial and Proletariat attitudes fostered interest in socialism, and subsequently became a matter written about in the Guyanese context.
Socialist literature was acquired and disseminated by the People's Progressive Party, leading to legislature to pass an Undesirable Publications Ordinance to ban such books.
New World Quarterly was an outlet for academics within the Caribbean to examine development, socialism, and other regional issues, but also the "original publication of poems, reviews and commentaries".
[8] The Indigenous peoples in Guyana did not use written language at the advent of their interaction with the early European explorers, nonetheless, their oral traditions and culture have been documented to varying degrees since that time and continue to have a presence in contemporary Guyanese literature.
[9] Indigenous languages have been in decline in favor of English (as well as Guyanese Creole or Portuguese),[10] but revival efforts have included establishing a written standard as well as compiling dictionaries.