Edward Kamau Brathwaite (born 1931) is a Barbadian writer, poet and dramatist; his poetry explores the African and Caribbean roots of his country and his people. The "national language" that he proposes is a new type of poetry linked with those themes.
Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, he was born to humble parents, and he attended many schools. He went to Cambridge, England; in 1957, he travelled to Ghana, shortly after independence, where he spent almost five years. Then he stayed in Kingston for producing clubs, one of which was the Caribbean Artists Movement (1966-1970): he was its secretary-general.
In 1968, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Sussex, and in 1994, the International Neustadt Prize for Literature.
His travels give him knowledge about the legends of Africa and its pre-colonial identity, which then he decided to use in his poetry.
Brathwaite has been married to Doris Welcome, since 1960; they have one child.
Selected works
- Four plays for schools (1964)
- Odale's Choice (1967)
- Masks (1968)
- Islands (1969)
- Folk Cultures in the Slaves in Jamaica (1970)
- Caribbean Man in Space and Time (1974)
- Other Exiles (1975)
- Days & Nights (1975)
- Black + Blues (1976)
- Mother Poem (1977)
- Soweto (1979)
- Jamaica Poetry (1979)
- Barbados Poetry (1979)
- Sun Poem (1982)
- Third World Poems (1983)
- Jah Music (1986)
- X/Self (1987)
- Shar (1992)
- Trenchtown Rock (1993)
- Roots (1993)
- Dream Stories (1994)
External link