Robert Antoni
Encyclopedia
Robert Antoni is a West Indian
writer who was awarded the 1999 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction
by The Paris Review for "My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head".
of Trinidadian
parents and grew up largely in the Bahamas, where his father practised medicine. He says his "fictional world" is "Corpus Christi", the invented island (based on Trinidad) that he introduced in his first novel
, Divina Trace (1991).
and in the creative writing
programme at Johns Hopkins University
before joining the Iowa Writers' Workshop
at the University of Iowa
, where he began working on Divina Trace. He has said that he spent a total of ten years completing the novel, which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first novel in 1992.
Antoni lived for a time in Barcelona
and taught at the University of Miami
from 1992 to 2001. In 2004, he began teaching at Barnard College
, Columbia University
and The New School
.
In 2010, he was a Guggenheim Fellow.
He currently resides in New York City
.
West Indian literature
Caribbean literature is the term generally accepted for the literature of the various territories of the Caribbean region. Literature in English specifically from the former British West Indies may be referred to as Anglo-Caribbean or, in historical contexts, West Indian literature, although in...
writer who was awarded the 1999 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction
Aga Khan Prize for Fiction
The Aga Khan Prize for Fiction is awarded by the editors of The Paris Review for what they deem to be the best short story published in the magazine in a given year. No applications are accepted. The winner gets $1,000...
by The Paris Review for "My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head".
Background
Antoni was born in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of Trinidadian
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
parents and grew up largely in the Bahamas, where his father practised medicine. He says his "fictional world" is "Corpus Christi", the invented island (based on Trinidad) that he introduced in his first 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....
, Divina Trace (1991).
Education
Antoni studied at Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
and in the creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
programme at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
before joining the Iowa Writers' Workshop
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Program in Creative Writing, more commonly known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing program in the United States...
at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
, where he began working on Divina Trace. He has said that he spent a total of ten years completing the novel, which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first novel in 1992.
Antoni lived for a time in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and taught 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...
from 1992 to 2001. In 2004, he began teaching 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...
, 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...
and The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
.
In 2010, he was a Guggenheim Fellow.
He currently resides in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Sources
- Richard Francis Patteson, The fiction of Robert Antoni: writing in the estuary, University of the West Indies Press, 2010, ISBN 9789766402297