Jamaica Kincaid

Who is Jamaica Kincaid?

Jamaica Kincaid was born Elaine Potter Richardson in St. John's, Antigua, and emigrated to the United States as a teenager to work as an au pair before building a career as one of the most acclaimed writers of the Caribbean diaspora. She adopted the pen name Jamaica Kincaid early in her writing career and became a staff writer for The New Yorker, where she published much of her early fiction and essays. Her works, including the novel Annie John (1985), the memoir-essay A Small Place (1988), and the novel Lucy (1990), explore colonialism, motherhood, identity, and the legacy of British rule in Antigua with unflinching, lyrical prose. A Small Place in particular is a landmark critique of tourism and the lingering effects of colonialism on Antiguan society and remains widely taught in postcolonial literature courses. Kincaid went on to teach creative writing at Harvard University and has received numerous honors for her contribution to Caribbean and American literature.

Sources: Harvard University faculty profile, "Jamaica Kincaid" · Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Jamaica Kincaid"