Jamaica Kincaid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jamaica Kincaid
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Kincaid in September 2019
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| Born | Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson May 25, 1949 St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda |
| Nationality |
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| Education | Franconia College (no degree) |
| Genre | Fiction, memoir, essays |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2004 |
| Spouse |
Allen Shawn
(m. 1979; div. 2002) |
| Children | 2 |
Jamaica Kincaid (born Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson on May 25, 1949) is a famous writer. She writes novels, essays, and even about gardening. She was born in St. John's, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda. Today, she lives in North Bennington, Vermont, in the United States. She used to be a professor at Harvard University.
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About Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John's, Antigua, on May 25, 1949. She grew up in a family that didn't have much money. Her mother was a smart and cultured woman. Her stepfather worked as a carpenter.
Kincaid was very close to her mother when she was young. When her three younger brothers were born, her mother focused more on them. Kincaid later said that her mother "wrote my life for me and told it to me." This shows how much her mother influenced her.
Early Life and Education
Kincaid received a British education while growing up in Antigua. She was a very bright student and often at the top of her class. However, when she was 16, her mother took her out of school. This was because her stepfather was sick, and the family needed more support.
In 1966, when Kincaid was 17, she moved to Scarsdale, a rich area near New York City. She worked there as an au pair, which is like a nanny who lives with the family. After moving, she decided not to send money home. She didn't stay in touch with her family for about 20 years.
Family Life
In 1979, Kincaid married Allen Shawn, a composer and professor. They had two children, a son named Harold and a daughter named Annie. They divorced in 2002. Harold is now a music producer, and Annie works in marketing.
Kincaid loves gardening and has written many books about it. In 2005, she became a follower of Judaism.
Her Writing Career
While working as an au pair, Kincaid took evening classes at a local college. After three years, she got a full scholarship to Franconia College in New Hampshire. She left college after a year and went back to New York. There, she started writing for magazines like Ingénue, The Village Voice, and Ms..
Changing Her Name
In 1973, when her writing was first published, she changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid. She explained that "Jamaica" comes from the name Christopher Columbus gave to the area she is from. She chose "Kincaid" because it sounded good with "Jamaica." She said changing her name helped her feel free to write in new ways.
Her short stories appeared in The Paris Review and The New Yorker magazine. Her 1990 novel Lucy was first published in parts in The New Yorker.
Working at The New Yorker
Kincaid became friends with George W. S. Trow, a writer for The New Yorker. This led her to meet the magazine's editor, William Shawn. He was very impressed with her writing. In 1976, he hired her as a staff writer. She worked for The New Yorker for 20 years. Shawn helped her develop her unique writing style.
She left The New Yorker in 1996. This was because the new editor, Tina Brown, started focusing more on celebrities instead of serious literature. Kincaid felt the magazine was becoming less about writing and more about fame.
A collection of her short pieces from The New Yorker was published in 2001. It was called Talk Stories.
Awards and Recognition
Jamaica Kincaid has received many awards for her writing. In December 2021, she won the 2022 Paris Review Hadada Prize. This award celebrates a writer's achievements over their lifetime.
What Kincaid Writes About
Kincaid's novels often feel like they are about her own life. However, she has said that readers should not take them too literally. She explains, "Everything I say is true, and everything I say is not true." Her stories often focus on feelings and impressions rather than just a clear plot. They also explore conflicts with strong mother figures and the effects of colonialism (when one country controls another) on her home country.
Parts of her non-fiction book A Small Place were used in a 2001 documentary called Life and Debt. This book talks about the impact of tourism on Antigua.
Main Ideas in Her Work
Kincaid's writing explores many important ideas. She often writes about:
- The relationship between mothers and daughters.
- The experience of growing up in a place that was once a colony.
- The feeling of being an outsider or a stranger.
- In her recent novel, See Now Then, she also writes about the idea of time.
Her Unique Style
Kincaid's writing style is very special and has been discussed a lot by critics. Many praise her for her sharp observations, cleverness, and beautiful language. Her writing is often described as "fearless" and "original."
For example, her short story "Girl" is a list of instructions from a mother to her daughter. But it shares much bigger messages about how a girl should live.
Derek Walcott, a Nobel Prize winner, said that Kincaid's sentences "discover themselves." This means her writing captures the narrator's feelings in a very deep way. Susan Sontag, another famous writer, praised Kincaid's work for its "emotional truthfulness."
Influences on Her Writing
Kincaid's own life experiences greatly influence her writing. Even though she warns against reading her fiction as purely autobiographical, she has also said, "I would never say I wouldn't write about an experience I've had." This shows that her personal journey is a big part of her creative work.
See also
In Spanish: Jamaica Kincaid para niños
- Caribbean literature
Awards and Honors
- 1984: Morton Dauwen Zabel Award for At the Bottom of the River
- 1985: Guggenheim Award for Fiction
- 1992: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Colgate University
- 1997: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for The Autobiography of My Mother
- 1999: Lannan Literary Award for Fiction
- 2000: Prix Femina étranger for My Brother
- 2004: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2009: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2010: Center for Fiction's Clifton Fadiman Medal for Annie John
- 2011: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Tufts University
- 2014: Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award for See Now Then
- 2015: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Brandeis University
- 2017: Winner of the Dan David Prize in Literature
- 2021: Royal Society of Literature International Writer
- 2021: Langston Hughes Medal
- 2022: The Paris Review Hadada prize for lifetime achievement
