Shana Yardan
Shana Yardan (10 April 1943 – 2 November 1989) was a Guyanese poet and broadcaster, whose work contributed to wider understanding of experiences of Guyanese women, the impact of British colonialism and the natural world.
Shana Yardan
- Name
- Shana Yardan
- Born
- 10 April 1943
- Birthplace
- Mahaicony, British Guiana
- Died
- 2 November 1989
- Place of death
- New York City, New York, U.S.
- Occupation
- Poet
- Education
- University of Guyana
- Nationality
- Guyana
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Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Shana Yardan • Born — 10 April 1943 • Birthplace — Mahaicony, British Guiana • Died — 2 November 1989 • Place of death — New York City, New York, U.S. • Occupation — Poet • Education — University of Guyana • Notable Works — The Listening Eyes
Biography
Biography
Yardan was born on 10 April 1943 in Mahaicony, Guyana. She attended St. John Baptist School in Bartica and St. Joseph High School in Georgetown. She began to write poetry in the late 1960s, and she was published for the first time in An Anthology of Voices of Guyana, which was edited by Donald Trotman. In 1972 she and other Guyanese women poets published Guyana Drums, an anthology of their works. She subsequently published a volume of poetry in 1976, entitled The Listening of Eyes. During the 1970s she became a member of the Messenger Group, a collective of Guyanese artists seeking greater recognition of the contributions of Indo-Guyanese people to the country's literature. Around the same time she also studied for a degree at the University of Guyana, as well as working for the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation. She died in New York from cancer on 2 November 1989.
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Mahaicony.
Birth place
New York City.
Death place
Reception
Selwyn Cudjoe described The Listening of Eyes as "accomplished, tough-minded and well-crafted". In 1980 Yardan was described as the "most important woman poet in Guyana" by Arthur J. Seymour. Her poetry explored themes such as gender inequality and discrimination, as well as love and the natural world. She addressed her Indo-Guyanese heritage and the impact of colonialism in her work; one such poem is Earth Is Brown. This piece also deals with the legacies of being the descendant of indentured Indian servants. Other works addressed kala pani – the idea that Hindus are prohibited from crossing seas and oceans.
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Shana Yardan, revision 1372850092 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lafayette College. Indo-Guyanese Women Poets: About Shana Yardan. Indo-Guyanese Women Poets.
- 2.This Listening of Eyes: Shana Yardan. Land of Six Peoples.
- 3.Young Men's Progressive Club. Bim. 1987.
- 4.Shana Yardan. Bim & Kyk-over-Al. 19. 73. 4. June 1990.
- 5.Cudjoe, Selwyn Reginald. Caribbean Women Writers: Essays from the First International Conference. Calaloux Publications. 102. 1990. 978-0-87023-731-7.
- 6.Seymour, Arthur J. The Making of Guyanese Literature. A.J. Seymour. 1980.
- 7.Preserving our literary heritage. Guyana Chronicle. 13 February 2010.
- 8.Creighton, Al. Conscious poetry and the post-independence era. Stabroek News. 29 October 2017.
- 9.Donnell, Alison. The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature. Psychology Press. 21. 1996. 978-0-415-12049-4.
- 10.Dawes, Kwame. Talk Yuh Talk: Interviews with Anglophone Caribbean Poets. University of Virginia Press. 119. 2001. 978-0-8139-1946-1.
- 11.Bragard, Véronique. Transoceanic Dialogues: Coolitude in Caribbean and Indian Ocean Literatures. Peter Lang. 2008. 978-90-5201-418-0.
- 12.Pande, Amba. Indentured and Post-Indentured Experiences of Women in the Indian Diaspora. Springer Nature. 71. 3 January 2020. 978-981-15-1177-6.
- 13.Carter, Marina. Coolitude: An Anthology of the Indian Labour Diaspora. Anthem Press. 136. 2002. 978-0-85728-760-1.
- 14.Mahabir, Joy Allison Indira. Critical Perspectives on Indo-Caribbean Women's Literature. Routledge. 7, 13, 142. 2013. 978-0-415-50967-1.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 September 2026.
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