Kamau Brathwaite

Kamau Brathwaite

CHB
BornLawson Edward Brathwaite
(1930-05-11)11 May 1930
Bridgetown, Colony of Barbados, British Empire
Died4 February 2020(2020-02-04) (aged 89)
Barbados
Pen nameEdward Brathwaite; Edward Kamau Brathwaite
OccupationPoet, academic
Notable worksRights of Passage (1967)
SpousesDoris Monica Wellcome, m. 1960–86 (her death);
Beverley Reid, m. 1998–his death
RelativesJoan Brathwaite

Edward Kamau Brathwaite, CHB (/kəˈmaʊ ˈbræθweɪt/; 11 May 1930 – 4 February 2020),[1] was a Barbadian poet and academic, widely considered one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon.[2] Formerly a professor of Comparative Literature at New York University,[2] Brathwaite was the 2006 International Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize, for his volume of poetry Born to Slow Horses.[3]

Brathwaite held a Ph.D. from the University of Sussex (1968)[4] and was the co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM).[5] He received both the Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships in 1983,[4] and was a winner of the 1994 Neustadt International Prize for Literature,[4] the Bussa Award, the Casa de las Américas Prize for poetry,[4] and the 1999 Charity Randall Citation for Performance and Written Poetry from the International Poetry Forum.[6]

Brathwaite was noted[7] 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.[8][9]

Brathwaite often made use of a combination of customized typefaces (some resembling dot matrix printing) and spelling, referred to as Sycorax video style.[10][11][12]

  1. ^ "Noted Barbadian poet and historian Brathwaite dies". Jamaica Observer. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b Staff (2011). "Kamau Brathwaite.", New York University, Department of Comparative Literature.
  3. ^ Staff (2006). "Kamau Brathwaite.", The Griffin Poetry Prize. The Griffin Poetry Prize, 2006.
  4. ^ a b c d Staff (2010). "Bios – Kamau Brathwaite.", The Center for Black Literature. The National Black Writers Conference, 2010.
  5. ^ Robert Dorsman, translated by Ko Kooman (1999). "Kamau Brathwaite" Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Poetry International Web.
  6. ^ Timothy J. Reiss (2002). Sisyphus and Eldorado: Magical and Other Realisms in Caribbean Literature. Africa World Press. ISBN 978-0-86543-891-0. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  7. ^ Annie Paul, ed. (2007). Caribbean Culture: Soundings on Kamau Brathwaite. University of the West Indies Press. pp. 1–36. ISBN 978-976-640-150-4. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  8. ^ Montague Kobbe, "Caribbean Identity and Nation Language in Kamau Brathwaite's Poetry", Latineos, 23 December 2010.
  9. ^ Carolyn Cooper, "Fi Wi Nation, Fi Wi Language", Jamaica Woman Tongue, 13 November 2011.
  10. ^ Laughlin, Nicholas (12 May 2007). "Notes on videolectics". The Caribbean Review of Books. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  11. ^ McSweeney, Joyelle (Fall 2005). "Poetics, Revelations, and Catastrophes: an Interview with Kamau Brathwaite". Rain Taxi Review. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  12. ^ Edmond, Jacob (20 November 2012). "Revolution with a twist – Kamau Brathwaite". Jacket 2 Magazine. Retrieved 27 February 2018.