April 16, 2008 — Caribbean writer Kamau Brathwaite will read from his work on Thursday, April 17 at 8 p.m. at the University of Virginia Bookstore.
Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Brathwaite has written about the complexities of Caribbean heritage and its African roots in his poetry and essays. His work often employs experimental linguistic and multilingual explorations of African identity in the West Indies.
His most recent poetry collections include "Born to Slow Horses," "Ancestors," "Words Need Love Too," and "Trench Town Rock." Brathwaite has received the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Casa de las Américas Premio, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Fulbright Fellowship. He is also the author of two plays and several collections of essays and literary criticism.
Brathwaite graduated from Pembroke College in Cambridge, England. After working as an education officer in Ghana in its early years of independence and teaching on the Jamaica campus of the University of the West Indies, he returned to England and received his Ph.D. from the University of Sussex in 1968. He currently teaches Comparative Literature at New York University.
The event is sponsored by the English department, the Peters Rushton Fund, and 20th Century Poetry Reading Group.
For information, e-mail Morgan Myers at jmorganmyers@virginia.edu.
Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Brathwaite has written about the complexities of Caribbean heritage and its African roots in his poetry and essays. His work often employs experimental linguistic and multilingual explorations of African identity in the West Indies.
His most recent poetry collections include "Born to Slow Horses," "Ancestors," "Words Need Love Too," and "Trench Town Rock." Brathwaite has received the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Casa de las Américas Premio, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Fulbright Fellowship. He is also the author of two plays and several collections of essays and literary criticism.
Brathwaite graduated from Pembroke College in Cambridge, England. After working as an education officer in Ghana in its early years of independence and teaching on the Jamaica campus of the University of the West Indies, he returned to England and received his Ph.D. from the University of Sussex in 1968. He currently teaches Comparative Literature at New York University.
The event is sponsored by the English department, the Peters Rushton Fund, and 20th Century Poetry Reading Group.
For information, e-mail Morgan Myers at jmorganmyers@virginia.edu.
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April 16, 2008
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