Lindsay Barrett

Lindsay Barrett
Barrett in 1983
Born
Carlton Lindsay Barrett

(1941-09-15) 15 September 1941 (age 83)
Lucea, Jamaica
NationalityJamaican-Nigerian
Other namesEseoghene
EducationClarendon College (Jamaica)
Occupation(s)Novelist, poet, playwright, journalist, broadcaster, photographer
Notable workSong for Mumu (1967)
RelativesA. Igoni Barrett (son)
AwardsConrad Kent Rivers Memorial Award

Carlton Lindsay Barrett (born 15 September 1941), also known as Eseoghene, is a Jamaican-born poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist and photographer, whose work has interacted with the Caribbean Artists Movement in the UK, the Black Arts Movement in the US, and pan-Africanism in general. Leaving Jamaica in the early 1960s, he moved to Britain, where he freelanced as a broadcaster and journalist, also travelling and living elsewhere in Europe, before deciding to relocate to West Africa. Since the latter 1960s he has been based mainly in Nigeria, of which country he became a citizen in the mid-1980s, while continuing his connection to cultural ventures in the UK and US.

Barrett initially drew critical attention for his debut novel, Song for Mumu, which on its London publication in 1967 was favourably noticed by such reviewers as Edward Baugh and Marina Maxwell (who respectively described it as "remarkable" and "significant");[1] more recently it has been commended for its "pervading passion, intensity, and energy",[2] referred to as a classic,[3] and features on "must-read" lists of Jamaican books.[4][5]

Particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, Barrett was a participant in significant drama and film projects in Britain, and became well known as an experimental and progressive essayist, his work being concerned with issues of black identity and dispossession, the African Diaspora, and the survival of descendants of black Africans, now dispersed around the world.[6]

One of his sons is the Nigerian writer A. Igoni Barrett, with whom he has also worked professionally.[7][8]

  1. ^ Baugh, Eddie (November 2006), "Confessions of a Critic" Archived 23 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of West Indian Literature (15:1/2), pp. 15–28.
  2. ^ Hena Maes-Jelinek, "The Novel 1950 to 1970", in Albert James Arnold, Julio Rodríguez-Luis, and J. Michael Dash (eds), A History of Literature in the Caribbean, Vol. 2: English- and Dutch-speaking regions, John Benjamins Publishing, 2001, p. 140.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference JObserver was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Davidson, Gwyneth Harold (16 August 2015), "10+ Jamaican Books That I Would Consider a Must Read", gwynethharold.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Storey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Margaret Alic, "Barrett, Lindsay 1941–", Encyclopedia.com.
  7. ^ "Nigerian Author Fights Brain Drain", Jamaica Gleaner, 22 May 2011.
  8. ^ A. Igoni Barrett, "I Want to Be a Book: On Becoming A Writer", The Millions, 28 September 2012.