Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin, PhD, the first woman to lead the University of Guyana, and, by regional accounts, the first woman appointed to a vice-chancellorship anywhere in the Anglophone Caribbean, will publish her first memoir, A Brave and Beautiful Thing, in October 2026, as she brings to a close seven years at the head of the country’s national university.
Subtitled A First Memoir of the First Female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, the book arrives at a hinge moment in the country’s academic history. Its release coincides with the close of a tenure that steered the University through the COVID-19 pandemic, a period of acute institutional strain, and one of the most ambitious phases of transformation in its history.
“I never set out to lead, and for a long time I resisted it,” said Professor Mohamed Martin. “This book is my attempt to tell the truth about what it asks of a woman to carry an institution, and a country’s hopes, through years when almost nothing was certain.”
Professor Mohamed Martin was appointed the University’s 11th Vice-Chancellor in 2020, having previously chaired its Transitional Management Committee and served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Philanthropy, Alumni and Civic Engagement, a department she founded. During her tenure the University moved several hundred places in regional and international rankings, established four new research institutes in energy, green economics, resilience and strategic security, and food and nutrition security, and raised more than US$45 million toward its growth.
Long before she led the University, Professor Mohamed Martin was among the most decorated figures in Guyanese and Caribbean letters. A three-time winner of the Guyana Prize for Literature and the first woman named Caribbean Laureate of the Anthony N. Sabga Awards for Excellence in Arts and Letters, she has written more than thirty plays and several collections of poetry, produced and co-produced more than twenty films, and founded cultural initiatives including Healing Arts Guyana and CineGuyana. The fact that A Brave and Beautiful Thing is her first memoir, a new form for one of the country’s most prolific writers, is itself part of the book’s occasion.
The memoir is expected to resonate with readers across Guyana and the wider Caribbean, within the diaspora, and among students, educators, and women in leadership, including anyone attentive to the question of what it costs, and what it yields, to lead a national institution through a period of change.
A Brave and Beautiful Thing will be available in October 2026. Pre-orders links will be available in the coming weeks. Media requests, interview invitations, review-copy requests, and bulk or institutional orders may be directed to media@caribverse.com. The cover image is attached and an author photograph is available on request.
About the Author
Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin, PhD, is a scholar of communication and behavioural change, a playwright, poet, and filmmaker, and the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, the first woman to hold the post in the institution’s history. Educated at the University of Guyana, the University of the West Indies, and Harvard University, she is a full Professor at the University of Guyana and an adjunct Professor of Cultural Diplomatics at Trent University. Her honours include a Presidential Medal of Service, the City of New York Award for Culture, the National Arrow of Achievement, and the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence in Arts and Letters.
About the Book
In the history of Caribbean higher education, few voices carry the unique weight of breakthrough leadership and deep academic devotion quite like that of Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin. As the first woman to serve as Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana in the anglophone Caribbean, her journey is a profound testament to navigating unprecedented institutional and societal transformation.
A Brave and Beautiful Thing candidly chronicles her remarkable trajectory—from her early days as a student walking the university campus to eventually steering the institution through five of the most tumultuous and historic eras it has ever faced. Written with fierce honesty and a deep, abiding affection, this memoir ultimately reads as a profound love note to the University of Guyana. With unparalleled intimacy and clarity, Prof Mohamed Martin reveals what it took to lead through:
The sweeping disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Critical regional and territorial challenges.
The sudden, complex pivot to online education.
The massive policy shift toward state-funded tuition.
A period of unprecedented, explosive growth within both the university and Guyana as a nation.
The hyper-disruptive nature of technology in higher education
Female and leading by divine grace: the spiritual underpinning of servant leadership
More than a mere administrative history, this first memoir offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the raw realities of high-level academic governance. It sheds vital light on how women lead, process, and think through relentless change, offering a masterful exploration of how humans and systems transform in tandem. Written from the authentic perspective of a leader who lived this history—and continues to shape it—this book is an indispensable guide for future strategists, educators, and leaders worldwide.
As a prize-winning author, cultural strategist, futurist, and behavioral scientist, Prof Mohamed Martin utilizes her rich intellectual gifts to deliver a narrative that is as deeply analytical as it is profoundly moving.
This memoir marks the first of a powerful two-volume collection. Her journey and philosophy continue in her highly anticipated companion book, Teacher Healer, which explores a “pedagogy of love,” dedicated to new principles of teaching and the unforgettable students who transformed her life.
Availability
Title: A Brave and Beautiful Thing
Subtitle: A First Memoir of the First Female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana
Author: Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin, PhD
Expected publication: October 2026
