Often those who blaze a path and hold a torch for others to follow don't get the thanks they deserve until decades down the line. In the case of the husband-and-wife team behind Guanima Press, one of the first publishing presses in The Bahamas dedicated to advancing literature for a local audience, their start in 1992 came out of a desire to preserve and advance Bahamian culture.

"It's that challenge of writing and publishing locally that comes out of owing a debt to our country," says Patricia. "There are things about our history, culture and society that have to get done. We are at the stage where it's an absolute necessity."

Yet the start was a rocky one, sparking a debate at the time between the authenticity of self-publishing locally and publishing with the so-called "larger" international presses--Longman, Heinemann, MacMillan and Collins--those British "gatekeepers" who through their selection molded Caribbean literature even in post-colonial decades.

Though Guanima Press is almost twenty years old and a few more local publishing presses have popped up in their wake, Neko points out that the same old feeling of "foreign is better" still permeates our way of thinking, though the time of the "gatekeepers" has long passed.

"The wheels are turning, but you have to go back to colonialism where we needed the external validation to say yes, we are good," points out Patricia.

"What I want people to see is we really need to make the a to get our writing out there by people who understand our culture and the importance to get it into our schools," she continues. "I think we took the brunt of that criticism at the time but now people are coming back and saying how they see it was important to have other local press options."

Indeed, both Neko and Patricia know the meaning of sacrifice through their press. Though having printed over a dozen books of work by Bahamian writers--a good number by Patricia herself, including the ubiquitous and hilarious "How to be a True-True Bahamian", as well as the cultural studies journal "Yinna"-- both Neko and Patricia have other jobs and commitments that they balance with their passion.

"We've made a lot of sacrifice. Every time we come out with a book it takes financial sacrifice, among other things," says Neko. "Every new project takes a lot of work and a lot of caps--graphic artist, photographer, illustrator, typographer."

Yet the pair are the perfect team to run such a press simply because their backgrounds have helped them formulate those caps. With an extensive background in photography, computer programming, art appreciation and graphic arts through his studies, jobs and self-motivated research, Neko plans and lays out the books, sometimes even acting as an illustrator.

Yet it was his interest in foreign languages that would cause his path to intersect with Patricia's in 1982 while he was a student at The College of The Bahamas, for her background too was in foreign languages--and her attentive eye would make her the perfect editor and proofreader for their future press.

Indeed, Patricia's love for language--instilled in her by her parents who both wrote extremely well--led to a love of reading and writing. It wouldn't be until her studies in foreign languages at the Mona campus in the University of West Indies, however, that she would use these talents to compile Bahamian tales of folklore she heard while growing up on Cat Island.

"They took their culture so seriously in Jamaica. But to my horror I found they didn't like Bahamians. One of my roommates said, 'Bahamians don't have culture, you're all just washed-up Americans'," Patricia remembers.

"And I asked her what she thought culture was, and when she explained what she considered culture, I said yes, we have all of those things. From there I got a fierce determination to dedicate myself to showing we have a great culture."

The collection of stories that resulted, "An Evening in Guanima" were based on traditional Bahamian folklore motifs she researched through interviews with those who could still remember the stories which were, until then, only passed down orally.

"We haven't done a good job of developing a national literature," says Patricia. "I realized we were losing our tales in my research because I would have to really prompt people to tell me what they could remember from their childhood storytelling, really dig deep and set a scene. I knew I had to fix that so the information could get to our schools and we could examine them."

The book would soon be lobbied by the large publisher Collins and competed for by Jennie Ingham Associates Ltd., with Patricia settling upon a publishing deal with Collins that stopped just short of signing the final contract before Collins was bought out by rival publisher Longman, which threw out any book deal without a final signed contract.

It would be a rejection that would be the final push towards the formation of Guanima Press. Indeed, from that moment came Neko's bright idea to publish the collection themselves--after all, the constant challenge of local writers was the lack of local publishing options and the inability to reach those larger "gatekeeper" publishers who so often left The Bahamas out of "The Caribbean" region from which they searched for writers.

"It was our 'We can do that!' moment," remembers Neko. "From then, it was like a snowball rolling down a hill."

More books by Patricia soon followed, and then other writers such as Michael Pintard, Eugenie Nuttal and Cindy Armbrister, making Guanima Press a viable publisher in the region--and different from presses that would simply get paid to print books, for their selection and editing process ensures a certain level of craft.

"I didn't want to just take any book that came our way," says Neko. "I wanted everything to be at an international standard."

Yet Guanima Press had something above those "gatekeeper" presses of yesteryear--it was local. Such a move marked a shift in consciousness for emerging countries like The Bahamas that they could take charge of creating and validating their own culture instead of desiring and waiting for external permission or validation.

The name even of Guanima Press--so decided on as it is the place in the first title they ever published--alludes to one of the ancient names of Cat Island, is one of self-assured identity, a throwback, a reminder, a nostalgic yet defiant namesake that is undoubtedly Bahamian. Today, it is "the" Bahamian press for local literature.

"When I said 'Let's do this' to Patti, I never thought we'd end up here," says Neko.

"But recently I've started to enjoy what this is and what we've accomplished and what we continue to do. We're doing what we love, and we dropped out of the rat race to do it."

Indeed, despite their trials and struggle, the thing that unites them and drives them is a love for language, literature a Bahamian culture, and the desire to see it preserved and continued--through Guanima Press and any other local press they hope to see come along in the future.

"I think because I started out studying languages I get worried when a higher-up in the country tells me 'Why publish books anymore?'" says Patricia. "Language is in danger. We are here to fight to sustain the beauty of language."

"We have to fight against this reverse-snobbishness in this country where mediocrity is celebrated and sustained," she continues. "We have to fight through brewing prejudices in this country. People want us to be seen as sun, sand and sea but we are here to show the other side of ourselves.

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