Jamaica Kincaid
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Jamaica Kincaid (b. Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson, 25 May 1949 in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda) is an Antiguan-American novelist.
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[edit] Early life
Kincaid, who is Black and Jewish,[citation needed] lived with her stepfather, a carpenter, and her mother until 1965. In Antigua, she completed her secondary education under the British system, due to Antigua's status as a British colony until 1967.
She came to New York at the age of 17 to work for a family as an au pair. She went on to study photography at the New School for Social Research after leaving the family for which she worked, and also attended Franconia College in New Hampshire for a year.
[edit] Writing career
In 1973, she changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid because her family disapproved of her writing.
Her first writing experience involved a series of articles for Ingenue magazine.
She worked for The New Yorker as a staff writer until 1995.
Her novel Lucy (1990) is an imaginative account of her experience of coming into adulthood in a foreign country, and continues the narrative of her personal history begun in the novel Annie John (1985). Other novels, such as The Autobiography of My Mother (1996)explore issues of colonialism and much of the anger associated with it. This text is a unique departure for Kincaid because of the way it crosses genres.
She has also published a collection of short stories, At the Bottom of the River (1983), a collection of essays, A Small Place and more.
She is a visiting professor and teaches creative writing at Harvard University.
"I'm someone who writes to save her life," Kincaid says, "I mean, I can't imagine what I would do if I didn't write. I would be dead or I would be in jail because -- what else could I do? I can't really do anything but write. All the things that were available to someone in my position involved being a subject person. And I'm very bad at being a subject person."
[edit] Miscellaneous
- She has two children with her ex-husband, Allen Shawn (the son of The New Yorker's longtime editor William Shawn).
- She was the advisor/mentor for Uzodinma Iweala, critically acclaimed author of Beasts of No Nation.
[edit] Works
- "Girl," short story (June 26, 1978, appeared in The New Yorker)
- At the Bottom of the River (1983)
- Annie John (1985)
- A Small Place (1988)
- Annie, Gwen, Lilly, Pam, and Tulip (1989)
- Lucy (1990)
- Biography of a Dress (1990)
- "On Seeing England for the First Time," essay (1991, appeared in Harper's Magazine)
- The Autobiography of My Mother (1995)
- My Brother (1997)
- My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants they Love (editor; 1998)
- My Garden (Book): (1999)
- Talk Stories (2000)
- My Garden (2001)
- Mr. Potter (2002)
- Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalayas (2005)
Figures in the Distance
- Life and Debt Film
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Voices from the Gaps biography
- Literary Encyclopedia biography
- Salon Interview with Jamaica Kincaid (circa 1999?)
- 1991 RealAudio interview with Jamaica Kincaid by Don Swaim
- Resource for more information on Autobiography of My Mother
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1949 births | Living people | Antiguan and Barbudan people | African American writers | American novelists | Vermont culture | Members of The American Academy of Arts and Letters | Converts to Judaism | Black Jews | Caribbean women writers
