Bigraphy of Kamau Brathwaite
Edward Kamau Brathwaite (born 11 May 1930, Bridgetown, Barbados) is widely considered one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon.[1] A professor of Comparative Literature at New York University,[1] Brathwaite is the 2006 International Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize, for his volume of poetry Born to Slow Horses.[2]
Brathwaite holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sussex (1968)[2] and was the co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM).[3] He received both the Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships in 1983,[2] and is a winner of the 1994 Neustadt International Prize for Literature,[2] the Bussa Award, the Casa de las Américas Prize for poetry,[2] and the 1999 Charity Randall Citation for Performance and Written Poetry from the International Poetry Forum.[4]
Brathwaite is noted[5] for his studies of Black cultural life both in Africa and throughout the African diasporas of the world in works such as Folk Culture of the Slaves in Jamaica (1970); The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820 (1971); Contradictory Omens (1974); Afternoon of the Status Crow (1982); and History of the Voice (1984), the publication of which established him as the authority of note on nation language.[6Co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement, Brathwaite is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Elegguas (2010), the Griffin International Poetry Prize winner Slow Horses (2005), Ancestors (2001), Middle Passages (1992), and Black + Blues (1976). His first three collections, Rights of Passage (1967), Masks (1968), and Islands (1969), have been gathered into The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy (1973). He is also the author of Our Ancestral Heritage: A Bibliography of the Roots of Culture in the English-speaking Caribbean (1976) and Barbados Poetry: A Checklist: Slavery to the Present (1979). Brathwaite’s honors include the Casa de las Americas Prize for Literary Criticism, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Bussa
Brathwaite holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sussex (1968)[2] and was the co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM).[3] He received both the Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships in 1983,[2] and is a winner of the 1994 Neustadt International Prize for Literature,[2] the Bussa Award, the Casa de las Américas Prize for poetry,[2] and the 1999 Charity Randall Citation for Performance and Written Poetry from the International Poetry Forum.[4]
Brathwaite is noted[5] for his studies of Black cultural life both in Africa and throughout the African diasporas of the world in works such as Folk Culture of the Slaves in Jamaica (1970); The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820 (1971); Contradictory Omens (1974); Afternoon of the Status Crow (1982); and History of the Voice (1984), the publication of which established him as the authority of note on nation language.[6Co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement, Brathwaite is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Elegguas (2010), the Griffin International Poetry Prize winner Slow Horses (2005), Ancestors (2001), Middle Passages (1992), and Black + Blues (1976). His first three collections, Rights of Passage (1967), Masks (1968), and Islands (1969), have been gathered into The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy (1973). He is also the author of Our Ancestral Heritage: A Bibliography of the Roots of Culture in the English-speaking Caribbean (1976) and Barbados Poetry: A Checklist: Slavery to the Present (1979). Brathwaite’s honors include the Casa de las Americas Prize for Literary Criticism, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Bussa
Bibliography: of the Roots of Culture in the English-speaking Caribbean (1976) and Barbados Poetry: A Checklist: Slavery to the Present (1979). Brathwaite’s honors include the Casa de las Americas Prize for Literary Criticism, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Bussa Award, and the Charity Randall Prize for Performance and Written Poetry, as well as fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Brathwaite has worked in Ghana’s Ministry of Education, as well as teaching at Harvard University, the University of the West Indies, and New York University. He lives in Barbados and New York City.