Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid (born Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson; May 25, 1949)[1] is a Caribbean novelist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in the city of St. John's on the island of Antigua in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. She lives with her family in North Bennington, Vermont, during the summers and teaches at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California,[2] during the academic year.[3]
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Writing career [edit]
Kincaid's short fiction has appeared in The Paris Review and The New Yorker, where her novel Lucy was originally serialized.[4] Her first book, At the Bottom of the River (1983), was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.[5] Awards she has received include the Center for Fiction's Clifton Fadiman Medal, the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, the Prix Femina Étranger, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award.[6]
Her novels are loosely autobiographical, though Kincaid has warned against interpreting their autobiographical elements too literally: "Everything I say is true, and everything I say is not true. You couldn't admit any of it to a court of law. It would not be good evidence."[7] Her work often prioritizes "impressions and feelings over plot development"[8] and often features conflict with both a strong maternal figure and colonial and neocolonial influences.[9] Excerpts from her non-fiction book A Small Place[10] were used as part of the narrative for Stephanie Black's[11] 2001 documentary, Life and Debt.[12]
Family [edit]
She has a son, Harold (music producer/songwriter Levelsoundz), and a daughter, Annie (singer/songwriter Annie Rosamond), with her ex-husband, the composer Allen Shawn (son of The New Yorker's longtime editor William Shawn and brother of actor Wallace Shawn).[3]
Religion [edit]
Kincaid is a convert to Judaism.[13]
Works [edit]
- "Girl" - short story/poem (in The New Yorker, June 26, 1978, then in 1984 in At the Bottom of the River)
- At the Bottom of the River (1983); shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, 1984.[1]
- 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, published in Transition Magazine)
- The Autobiography of My Mother (1995); shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, 1997.)[1]
- My Brother (1997)
- My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants they Love (editor; 1998)
- My Garden (1999)
- Talk Stories (2001)
- My Garden (2001)
- Mr.Potter (2002)
- Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalayas (2005)
- See Now Then (2013)[14]
- Figures in the Distance
- "In History" (in The Colors of Nature)
- "See Now Then" (2013)
Awards [edit]
- President of the Levelsoundz fan club (the official fan club for her son Harold "Levelsoundz" Shawn)
- Honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Tufts University (2011)
- 2010 - Center for Fiction's Clifton Fadiman Medal for Annie John[15]
References [edit]
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Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (February 2013) |
- ^ a b c "Literature Matters Jamaica Kincaid". British Council. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
- ^ "Jamaica Kincaid", Academic Faculty Profile, Claremont McKenna College
- ^ a b "Jamaica Kincaid", Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota,
- ^ "Jamaica Kincaid", Literary Encyclopedia
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Cassidy, Thomas. "Jamaica Kincaid." Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Literary Resource Center. Web.
- ^ Kay Bonetti, "An Interview with Jamaica Kincaid", The Missouri Review.
- ^ Cassidy.
- ^ "Jamaica Kincaid." Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction. Literary Resource Center. Web.
- ^ "A Small Place". Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ "Stephanie Black". Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ "Life and Debt website". Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ Donna Halper. "Black Jews: A Minority Within a Minority". Ujc.org. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
- ^ Lee, Felicia R. “Never Mind the Parallels, Don’t Read It as My Life.” The New York Times. Nytimes.com, 5 Feb. 2013: C1 Print.
- ^ "Jamaica Kincaid Winner Of Center For Fiction's Clifton Fadiman Award", Book2Book, March, 25, 2010.
Other references [edit]
- Jamaica Kincaid: A Bibliography of Dissertations and Theses, ISBN 978-1-4536-7749-0.
External links [edit]
- Voices from the Gaps biography
- Literary Encyclopedia biography
- PEN 2013 Master/Class with Jamaica Kincaid and Ru Freeman
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- 1949 births
- Living people
- African-American writers
- American garden writers
- American women novelists
- American women writers
- Antigua and Barbuda women writers
- Antigua and Barbuda emigrants to the United States
- Jews in the African diaspora
- Caribbean women writers
- Claremont McKenna College faculty
- Converts to Judaism
- Franconia College alumni
- Harvard University staff
- Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- People from Bennington, Vermont
- The New Yorker people
- Wesleyan University people
- Women writers from Vermont
- Prix Femina Étranger winners
- Jewish American novelists
- Writers from New York City
- Women writers from New York
- 20th-century American novelists
- 21st-century American novelists
- Antigua and Barbuda writers
