Caryl Phillips
Encyclopedia
Caryl Phillips is a British writer with a Caribbean background, best known as a novelist. He is now professor at Yale University
and a visiting professor at Barnard College
of Columbia University
.
. At four months old, his family moved to England and was brought up in Leeds
, Yorkshire. He read English at Queen's College, Oxford. He mainly began writing drama scripts.
He has tackled themes on the African slave trade from many angles. His work has been recognised by numerous awards including Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the 1993 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
for Crossing the River
and the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Best Book award for A Distant Shore. Beside being an accomplished writer, Caryl Phillips is also a noted professor. He has taught at numerous universities in countries including: Barbados, Ghana, India, Singapore, Sweden, and the United States of America.
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and a visiting professor at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Life
He was born on St. KittsSaint Kitts
Saint Kitts Saint Kitts Saint Kitts (also known more formally as Saint Christopher Island (Saint-Christophe in French) is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean...
. At four months old, his family moved to England and was brought up in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Yorkshire. He read English at Queen's College, Oxford. He mainly began writing drama scripts.
He has tackled themes on the African slave trade from many angles. His work has been recognised by numerous awards including Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the 1993 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for Crossing the River
Crossing the River
Crossing the River is a historical fiction novel by British author Caryl Phillips, published in 1993. The Village Voice calls it "a fearless reimagining of the geography and meaning of the African diaspora." The Boston Globe said, "Crossing the River bears eloquently chastened testimony to the...
and the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Writers is an initiative by the Commonwealth Foundation to unearth, develop and promote the best new fiction from across the Commonwealth. It's flagship are two literary awards and a website...
Best Book award for A Distant Shore. Beside being an accomplished writer, Caryl Phillips is also a noted professor. He has taught at numerous universities in countries including: Barbados, Ghana, India, Singapore, Sweden, and the United States of America.
Novels
- The Final PassageThe Final PassageThe Final Passage is Caryl Phillips's debut novel. First published in 1985, it is about the Caribbean diaspora exemplified in the lives of a young family from a small island of the British West Indies who decide to join the 1950s exodus to the mother country...
(1985) - A State of Independence (1986)
- Higher Ground (1989)
- Cambridge (1991)
- Crossing the RiverCrossing the RiverCrossing the River is a historical fiction novel by British author Caryl Phillips, published in 1993. The Village Voice calls it "a fearless reimagining of the geography and meaning of the African diaspora." The Boston Globe said, "Crossing the River bears eloquently chastened testimony to the...
(1993) - The Nature of Blood (1997)
- A Distant Shore (2003)
- Dancing in the Dark (2005)
- Foreigners (2007)
- In the Falling Snow (2009)
Essay collections
- The European Tribe
- The Atlantic Sound
- A New World Order
- Color Me English
Radio plays
- A Kind of Home – James Baldwin in Paris (9 January 2004)
- Hotel Cristobel (13 March 2005)
- A Long Way from Home (30 March 2008)