The New York Times has described Caryl Phillips as one of the great literary giants of our time, an appraisal supported by the sheer number of novels, collections of essays, plays, screenplays, travel books, anthologies, and radio and television dramas he has produced since 1980 and by the broad scope of his focus on issues concerning belonging, identity, and homelessness as they are manifested in multiple points of the African diaspora.

Born in St. Kitts, raised in Leeds, England, and currently residing in New York City, Phillip’s own history makes him uniquely positioned to address these concerns. His work imagines the lives of people least represented in history though often most adversely affected by historical circumstances. Through his compassionate engagement with these lonely, marginalized characters, Phillips transgresses artificial boundaries of race, gender, and nation, and calls into question the myths of homogeneity that underlie the imperialist impulses of the west. His resulting works, in particular the ten novels and three works of nonfiction he has written to date, have firmly established Phillips as one of the most important and talented writers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Currently Professor of English at Yale University, Phillips has received significant critical attention for his overarching project throughout his career. He has been given honorary degrees from Amherst College (1995), Leeds Metropolitan University (1997), University of York (2003), Leeds University (2003), and Yale University (2006); and he has received numerous literary fellowships, including the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 1992 and the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction in 1994. His novel Crossing the River was shortlisted for the Book Prize in 1993; his fiction has been translated into thirteen languages; and he has been the recipient of many prestigious prizes, ranging from the Malcolm X Prize for Literature which in received in 1987 to the PEN/Beyond Margins Award which he was awarded in 2006.

His 2009 SAMLA creative plenary address will be presented on Friday at 6:00 p.m.

Visit Caryl Phillips' web site.