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Andrew Salkey

あんどりゅー・さるきー

Andoryū Sākī

Aliases: Felix Andrew Alexander Salkey

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1928-01-30 （Colón, Panama）
Died
1995-04-28 （Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.） age 67
Nationality
Jamaican, Panamanian
Languages
English
Religion
Unknown
Residence History
Panama (birth) → Jamaica (childhood and education) → United Kingdom (from 1952) → United States (from 1970s)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Poet, Children's books writer, Journalist, Educator, Broadcaster
Active Years
1952-1995
Affiliations
Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM), BBC World Service Caribbean section, Hampshire College, West Indian Students Union (WISU)
Influenced By
Sam Selvon, George Lamming
Influenced
V. S. Naipaul, Kamau Brathwaite

Education

St. George's College
Country: Jamaica
Munro College
Country: Jamaica
College of St Mark and St John
Period: 1950年代初頭
Country: United Kingdom

Awards

Thomas Helmore Poetry Prize
1955
Work: Jamaica Symphony
Result: winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
1960
Category: 民俗学と大衆文化
Organization: Guggenheim Foundation
Result: fellow
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
Work: Hurricane
Result: winner
Casa de las Américas prize
1979
Work: In the Hills Where Her Dreams Live
Organization: Casa de las Américas
Result: winner
Black Scholar 25th Anniversary Award
1992
Category: 文学
Organization: The Black Scholar
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Quality of Violence

1959 Novel

Set around 1900 in a remote area of Jamaica, narrated in Jamaican patois.

violenceJamaican society

Escape to an Autumn Pavement

1960 Novel

Novel of exile set in London, exploring queer and migrant lives.

exileidentityhomosexuality

The Late Emancipation of Jerry Stover

1968 Novel

Damning indictment of the nihilism of middle class Caribbean life.

middle classCaribbean society

Jamaica

1973 Epic poem

Epic poem exploring the historical foundations of Jamaican society.

historyJamaica

Come Home, Malcolm Heartland

1976 Novel

Theme of revolutionary activity of black secret agents and exiles in London.

revolutionblack identity

Bibliography

  • A Quality of Violence (1959)
  • Escape to an Autumn Pavement (1960)
  • Hurricane (1964)
  • Earthquake (1965)
  • Drought (1966)
  • The Late Emancipation of Jerry Stover (1968)
  • The Adventures of Catullus Kelly (1969)
  • Come Home, Malcolm Heartland (1976)
  • Jamaica (1973)

Translations of Works

  • Hurricane (German translation, Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Use of Jamaican patoisReworking of Caribbean folkloreInsider-outsider perspective
Recurring Motifs
Anancy storiesexile and identityblack awareness

Health

  • Chronic illness
    晩年
    Contributed to death in 1995

Legacy

Key figure in Caribbean literature, co-founder of Caribbean Artists Movement. Supported writers at BBC, writer-in-residence at Hampshire College. Known for Anancy stories, children's books, and themes of exile and identity.

Archives

  • McMaster University (correspondence with Austin Clarke)

In Popular Culture

  • 2018 London Underground 'Windrush 70' display of poem 'History and Away'
  • 2022 Backlisted podcast on his works

Quotes

  • I was headed nowhere like a hundred million others: I had escaped a malformed Jamaican middle class; I had attained my autumn pavement; I had done more than my fair share of hurting, rejecting, and condemning; and I had created another kind of failure, and this time, in another country.
    Source: Escape to an Autumn Pavement (1960)

Trivia

  • Co-founder of Caribbean Artists Movement
  • Encouraged V. S. Naipaul to continue writing
  • Son Jason Salkey is an actor
  • Andrew Salkey Memorial Scholarship at Hampshire College
  • Edited anthology of Cuban writing post-revolution