Writer Ruel Johnson has expressed concern at what he considers to be possible case of nepotism at Caribbean Press, a publishing company owned by the government of Guyana: When I saw the recent launch of young Ashley Anthony’s book Mysterious Association and the Virtu Gems [sic] I declined to publicly point out the irony of Minister Frank Anthony’s – Ashley’s father – woeful record of creating the sort of space for other young aspiring Guyanese authors to write and publish their work. I have nothing against precociously intelligent children – I happen to be the proud father of one. I intend to use whatever humble resources I possess at my disposal to ensure that he not only gets the best education I can afford, but also that his natural talents find proper outlet; I am sure that Minister has the same outlook with his children. The Caribbean Press was founded in 2009 after a commitment was made by then President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo at Carifesta X, which was hosted by Guyana. The press was intended to create an avenue for writers throughout the Anglo-phone Caribbean to get published. The first big project from the Caribbean Press was the reissuing of a selection of Guyanese classics. Johnson's problem was with the way the book was published: Ashley Anthony’s book has the publication label “Caribbean Press” on it. As far as I know, the Caribbean Press is a publication mechanism established about three years ago, in the wake of the 2008 commitment by former President Jagdeo to give US $100,000 a year to establish a publishing house. The original intent was clearly to find an outlet for the publication of writers resident in Guyana (and, secondarily, the wider Caribbean); after a couple months of silence, it was announced that the Press would start off by publishing a series of out of print books called the Guyana Classics series. The publication of contemporary local writers was postponed after the full run of some 36 “classic” titles, upon which new writers would be considered for publication. He also considered the situation to be indicative of the corruption in other sectors of society: This is a clear-cut case of nepotism, and one that has been shamefully thrown in the face not of local writers alone, but that of the general public. In addition, it is a brazen and unapologetic act of corruption: taxpayers dollars go to fund the literary efforts of the daughter of a minister of government, who then profits from that investment from the sale of her books, at thirteen years old. This in a country where the government was only recently involved in a scandal where it refused to recognize the copyright of authors who’ve produced textbooks that are used in the school curriculum. Jeremy Poynting, publisher of Peepal Tree Press in the United Kingdom replied to Johnson's note about this issue: It does reinforce the point I made much earlier that the best model for state support for the arts and publishing was a hands-off one with an independent funding body. Peepal Tree has no voice in or connection with the organisation of the Caribbean Press. We facilitated the Guyanese Classics series by handling the technical side of production and arranging the printing. We thought this a worthwhile exercise to get new editions of Guyanese books into schools and libraries. We also licensed copies of some of our own Caribbean Classics series for non-sale, limited distribution to schools, for which we were paid covering costs, from which authors and estates will be paid royalties. After a follow-up note was eventually published in the Stabroek Newspaper, Johnson received a response from the authorities. Johnson recounted: A few hours after having sent off my second letter on the Ashley Anthony/Caribbean Press fiasco, I received a telephone call from a Ministry of Culture official inquiring about my home address. After having given it, a short time after I received another call for more detail about directions to get to the address I had freely given. Having signed for the envelope, courtesy of Culture Permanent Secretary Alfred King, I opened it to extract, as I had predicted, a lawyer’s letter from Park Avenue, New York firm Cozen O’Connor, threatening legal action under “Section 4 et al” of what I presume to be the Laws of Guyana, and not New York State.