Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid ( born May 25, 1949 as Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda ) is an Antiguan - American writer.

Life

Elaine Potter Richardson lived with her ​​stepfather, a carpenter, and her mother until 1965. In Antigua and Barbuda, where the British school system prevailed until 1967, she completed her secondary education. At the age of 17, she came to New York to work as an Au Pair. She then studied at the New York School for Social Research Photography. For a year they also visited the " Franconia College " in New Hampshire.

1973 had them change their name to Jamaica Kincaid because her family disapproved of her writing. Her first literary work were some articles for Ingenue magazine. Her novel Lucy (1990 ) is a fanciful report their experiences about growing up abroad and continues her personal story she began to tell to Roman Annie John. They also published a collection of short stories, At the Bottom of the River ( 1983), a collection of essays, A Small Place, and much more.

She is professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College and taught as a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, African and African - American Studies and English and American language.

She has two children with her ​​ex-husband Allen Shawn.

Awards

• 2000 - Prix Femina Etranger for Mon Frère

Works

• Girl ( short story, published on June 26, 1978 at the New Yorker)
• Annie John (1985 )
• A Small Place ( 1988)
• Lucy (1990 )
• Biography of a Dress (1990 )
• On Seeing England for the First Time ( essay, published in 1991 in Harper 's Magazine )
• The Autobiography of My Mother ( 1995) The autobiography of my mother. Translation by Christel Dormagen. Unionsverlag Zurich

• At that time, now and ever. Translation by Brigitte Henry. Union Verlag Zurich 2013