Whiting Awards
1 appearances
-
Edition 31 (2016) Winner
Safiya Sinclair
サフィヤ・シンクレア
Safiya Sinclair
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1984-01-01 （Montego Bay, Jamaica）
- Nationality
- Jamaican
- Languages
- English
- Religion
- Rastafari (upbringing)
- Residence History
- Montego Bay, Jamaica → Vermont, USA (Bennington College) → Virginia, USA (University of Virginia) → California, USA (University of Southern California) → Arizona, USA (Arizona State University)
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Memoirist, University professor
- Active Years
- 2000-
- Affiliations
- Brown University (Postdoctoral Research Associate, Literary Arts), Arizona State University (Associate Professor of Creative Writing)
- Influenced By
- Rita Dove, Kamau Brathwaite, Rastafari culture (upbringing)
- Nominations
- PEN Open Book Award (longlisted), PEN USA Literary Award (finalist), Dylan Thomas Prize (longlisted), Women's Prize for Non-Fiction (longlisted)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bennington College | — | — | BA | — | United States |
| University of Virginia | — | Poetry (MFA) | MFA | — | United States |
| University of Southern California | — | Literature and Creative Writing | PhD | — | United States |
Bennington College
Degree:
BA
Country:
United States
Moved to the U.S. in 2006 to attend college
University of Virginia
Poetry (MFA)
Degree:
MFA
Country:
United States
Studied with Rita Dove
University of Southern California
Literature and Creative Writing
Degree:
PhD
Country:
United States
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Prairie Schooner Book Prize | Cannibal | Poetry | Prairie Schooner | winner |
| 2016 | Whiting Award | Cannibal | Poetry | Whiting Foundation | winner |
| 2017 | American Academy of Arts and Letters Metcalf Award (Literature) | — | Literature | American Academy of Arts and Letters | winner |
| 2017 | OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature | Cannibal | Poetry | Bocas Lit Fest | winner |
| 2017 | Phillis Wheatley Book Award | Cannibal | Poetry | AALBC | winner |
| 2024 | National Book Critics Circle Award (Autobiography) | How to Say Babylon | Autobiography | National Book Critics Circle | winner |
Prairie Schooner Book Prize
2015
Work:
Cannibal
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
Prairie Schooner
Result:
winner
Whiting Award
2016
Work:
Cannibal
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
Whiting Foundation
Result:
winner
American Academy of Arts and Letters Metcalf Award (Literature)
2017
Category:
Literature
Organization:
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result:
winner
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
2017
Work:
Cannibal
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
Bocas Lit Fest
Result:
winner
Phillis Wheatley Book Award
2017
Work:
Cannibal
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
AALBC
Result:
winner
National Book Critics Circle Award (Autobiography)
2024
Work:
How to Say Babylon
Category:
Autobiography
Organization:
National Book Critics Circle
Result:
winner
Awards & Nominations
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
1 appearances
-
Edition 14 (2024) Winner
Works
Major Works
Catacombs
2011 Chapbook (poems & essays)A chapbook of poems and essays written during a one-year return to Jamaica after graduating from Bennington, reflecting personal memory and Jamaican experience.
return homememoryreligious upbringing
Cannibal
2016 Poetry collectionSinclair's debut collection that opens with Caliban's lines from The Tempest and charts exile from a strict Rastafari upbringing through immigration to the United States, addressing exile of the body and language.
exilecolonialismthe bodylanguage
How to Say Babylon
2023 Memoir / Non-fictionA memoir in lyrical prose about Sinclair's strict Rastafarian childhood, her coming-of-age, and the transformations of language and identity after moving to the U.S.
upbringing and oppressionidentityimmigrant experience
Bibliography
- Catacombs (Argos Books, 2011)
- Cannibal (University of Nebraska Press, 2016)
- How to Say Babylon: A Memoir (Simon & Schuster, 2023)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- lyrical, imagistic poetic styleboundary-crossing between essayistic and memoir prose
- Recurring Motifs
- exilethe bodylanguagereligious discipline
Legacy
An internationally recognized Caribbean writer who explores Rastafari upbringing and exile in lyrical language. Winner of multiple awards for Cannibal and How to Say Babylon, she is regarded as a significant voice on immigrant experience, language and the body.
In Popular Culture
- Read With Jenna book club pick (How to Say Babylon)
- Appearance at the National Book Festival (2024)
Quotes
-
“The very name Caliban is a Shakespearean anagram of the word cannibal…,”
Source: Poetry (essay) (2016) -
“For its sheer lusciousness of prose, the book's a banquet.”
Source: The New York Times (review by Quiara Alegría Hudes) (2023)
Trivia
- Raised as the eldest of four children in Montego Bay.
- First poem published at age 16 in a Jamaican newspaper.
- Picador won UK and Commonwealth rights to several of her books at auction.
- How to Say Babylon was selected as a Read With Jenna book club pick.