Geoffrey Philp
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Philp is a Jamaica
n poet
, novel
ist, and playwright
. He is the author of the novel, Benjamin
, My Son and five poetry
collections: Exodus and Other Poems, hurricane center, Florida Bound, xango
music, and Twelve Poems and A Story for Christmas. He has also written a book of short stories, Uncle Obadiah
and the Alien; a play, Ogun
's Last Stand, and a children's book, Grandpa Sydney's Anancy Stories.
His work has been mainly influenced by Derek Walcott
, Kamau Brathwaite, V.S. Naipaul, Bob Marley
, and Joseph Campbell
and contains some elements of magical realism. Many of his short stories
focus on the dilemmas facing fatherless children in the Caribbean
, the disruptive effects of the Jamaican diaspora
on family and community life, and the spiritual and political dimensions of Reggae
and the Rastafari movement
. Benjamin, My Son, in particular, examines Caribbean life within the context of established Christian
religions and African-Yoruba
based traditions while using the framework of Dante
's Inferno.
Philp’s awards include an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Florida Arts Council, an artist-in-residence at the Seaside Institute
, Sauza "Stay Pure" Award, Canute Brodhurst Prize and James Michener fellowships at the University of Miami
where he earned his Master of Arts in Creative Writing. His reviews, articles, poems and short stories have also appeared in Small Axe, Asili, The Caribbean Writer, Gulf Stream, Florida in Poetry: A History of the Imagination, Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry, Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories, and The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse. He lives in Miami, Florida
.
Short Story Collection
Poetry Collections
Drama
Children's Books
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. He is the author of the novel, Benjamin
Benjamin
Benjamin was the last-born of Jacob's twelve sons, and the second and last son of Rachel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. In the Biblical account, unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan. He died in Egypt on...
, My Son and five poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
collections: Exodus and Other Poems, hurricane center, Florida Bound, xango
Xango
Xango may refer to:* XanGo, a company based in Utah that markets a beverage, XanGo juice* Shango, one of the key orishas of Yoruba mythology, and the name of an Afro-Brazilian religion * Xangô, a brazilian song by Luís Bonfá...
music, and Twelve Poems and A Story for Christmas. He has also written a book of short stories, Uncle Obadiah
Obadiah
Obadiah is a Biblical theophorical name, meaning "servant of Yahweh" or "worshipper of Yahweh." It is related to "Abdeel", "servant of God", which is also cognate to the Arabic name "Abdullah". Turkish name Abdil or Abdi. The form of Obadiah's name used in the Septuagint is Obdios; in Latin it is...
and the Alien; a play, Ogun
Ogoun
In the Yoruba and Haitian traditional belief system, Ogun is a orisha and loa who presides over iron, hunting, politics and war. He is the patron of smiths, and is usually displayed with a number of attributes: a machete or sabre, rum and tobacco...
's Last Stand, and a children's book, Grandpa Sydney's Anancy Stories.
His work has been mainly influenced by Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott
Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
, Kamau Brathwaite, V.S. Naipaul, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, and Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
and contains some elements of magical realism. Many of his short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
focus on the dilemmas facing fatherless children in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, the disruptive effects of the Jamaican diaspora
Jamaican diaspora
“Diaspora” means the scattering of people from their ethnic roots, enforced or voluntary. Thus the Jamaican diaspora refers to Jamaicans who have left their traditional homelands, the dispersal of such Jamaicans, and the ensuing developments in their culture...
on family and community life, and the spiritual and political dimensions of Reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and the Rastafari movement
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
. Benjamin, My Son, in particular, examines Caribbean life within the context of established Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
religions and African-Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
based traditions while using the framework of Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
's Inferno.
Philp’s awards include an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Florida Arts Council, an artist-in-residence at the Seaside Institute
Seaside Institute
The Seaside Institute in Bridgeport, Connecticut is a Richardsonian Romanesque rock-faced granite, brick, brownstone and terracotta building designed by Warren R. Briggs and completed in 1887 at the corner of Lafayette and Atlantic avenues, not far from Seaside Park...
, Sauza "Stay Pure" Award, Canute Brodhurst Prize and James Michener fellowships at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
where he earned his Master of Arts in Creative Writing. His reviews, articles, poems and short stories have also appeared in Small Axe, Asili, The Caribbean Writer, Gulf Stream, Florida in Poetry: A History of the Imagination, Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry, Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories, and The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse. He lives in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
.
Works
Novel- (2003) Benjamin, my son
Short Story Collection
- (1997) Uncle Obadiah and the Alien
- (2009) Who's Your Daddy? and Other Stories
Poetry Collections
- (1990) Exodus and Other Poems
- (1995) Florida Bound
- (1998) hurricane center
- (2001) xango music
- (2005) Twelve Poems and A Story for Christmas
- (2010) Dub Wise
Drama
- (2005) Ogun’s Last Stand
Children's Books
- (2011) Marcus and the Amazons
- (2007) Grandpa Sydney's Anancy Stories