Wayne Brown (author)
Encyclopedia
Wayne Vincent Brown was a columnist, poet and fiction writer, and a teacher and mentor to numerous Caribbean writers.
.
in the United States
, Gregory Fellow in Poetry at the University of Leeds
, England, and a Fellow of Yaddo
, MacDowell
and The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He also attended the International Writers' Program at University of Iowa
and is the founder of the Observer Creative Writing Workshop. Most recently, he was an instructor at Lesley University
's MFA in Creative Writing Program.
Brown lived in Jamaica
, adopting it as his home in 1997. In 1998, he founded the Observer Literary Arts magazine that spawned a new generation of Caribbean writers.
Brown wrote a weekly column for The Jamaica Observer
titled "In Our Time." The column also appeared in Trinidad at the Trinidad and Tobago Express
, also appeared in the Guyanese
press. His final writing engagement had been a weekly column, In the Obama Era, for the Express, the Barbados Daily Nation
and Guyana's Stabroek News
.
One of Brown's most memorable poems, "Noah," retells the Genesis story in symbolic terms. The ark filled with animals is "his mind's ark"; the ship and its occupants "[b]eat and beat across the same sea / Bloated, adrift, finding / Nothing to fasten to." And by poem's end "Noah, released,/ Turned once more outwards, giving thanks. / Relief dazed them: nobody realized / Nothing had changed." Peace with God appears illusory; perhaps the ark of the mind cannot be remade, nor the world cleansed.
Early life
Brown was born in 1944 to Trinidadian parents. His mother died soon after giving birth to him. For most of his childhood he was brought up by relatives, while his father - Kenneth Vincent Brown - worked as a judgeJudge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
.
Academic life
Wayne Brown had been a Fulbright ScholarFulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Gregory Fellow in Poetry at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, England, and a Fellow of Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
, MacDowell
MacDowell Colony
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
and The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He also attended the International Writers' Program at 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...
and is the founder of the Observer Creative Writing Workshop. Most recently, he was an instructor at Lesley University
Lesley University
Lesley University is a private, coeducational university in Boston, Massachusetts and Cambridge, Massachusetts.The university is a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, National Association of Schools of Art and Design, and New England Collegiate Conference.-History:The...
's MFA in Creative Writing Program.
Writing
He was the author of On The Coast, for which he was awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1973. His works also include Landscape with Heron, Edna Manley: The Private Years (Andre Deutsch, 1976), Voyages (Imprint Caribbean, 1989) and The Child of the Sea (Imprint Caribbean, 1990). He also edited Selected Poetry and Bearing Witness: The Best of the Observer Arts Magazine 2000.Brown lived in Jamaica
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...
, adopting it as his home in 1997. In 1998, he founded the Observer Literary Arts magazine that spawned a new generation of Caribbean writers.
Brown wrote a weekly column for The Jamaica Observer
The Jamaica Observer
The Jamaica Observer is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The paper is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, The Gleaner. It's founding editor is Desmond Allen who is currently its executive editor -...
titled "In Our Time." The column also appeared in Trinidad at the Trinidad and Tobago Express
Trinidad and Tobago Express
The Trinidad and Tobago Express is one of three daily newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago. The Express is published by the Caribbean Communications Network and is headquartered on Independence Square in Port of Spain. The newspaper commenced operations on June 6, 1967...
, also appeared in the Guyanese
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
press. His final writing engagement had been a weekly column, In the Obama Era, for the Express, the Barbados Daily Nation
The Daily Nation (Barbados)
The Nation Publishing Company Limited is the publisher of the Nation Newspaper, which is the dominant daily newspaper in the country of Barbados. First established in 1973 the Daily Nation is printed daily in colour and distributed at many points around the country...
and Guyana's Stabroek News
Stabroek News
The Stabroek News is a privately owned newspaper published in Guyana.It was first published in November 1986, first as a weekly but it later changed to a daily print...
.
One of Brown's most memorable poems, "Noah," retells the Genesis story in symbolic terms. The ark filled with animals is "his mind's ark"; the ship and its occupants "[b]eat and beat across the same sea / Bloated, adrift, finding / Nothing to fasten to." And by poem's end "Noah, released,/ Turned once more outwards, giving thanks. / Relief dazed them: nobody realized / Nothing had changed." Peace with God appears illusory; perhaps the ark of the mind cannot be remade, nor the world cleansed.