Kincaid, Jamaica (b. 1949)

Jamaica Kincaid, 2019

Name/Title

Kincaid, Jamaica (b. 1949)

Entry/Object ID

1.1.51

Description

Born: May 25, 1949 in St. John's Antigua Primary Residence: Bennington Wrote for the New Yorker for almost twenty years and is the author of numerous short stories and books including, "At the Bottom of the River" (1984) and "Lucy" (1990). Visiting lecturer at Harvard University.

Also Known As

Elaine Potter Richardson

Biographical Information

Biography

Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John's, Antigua as Elaine Potter Richardson in 1949. When she finished school, she moved to the United States to be an au pair in New York and took writing classes at the New School for Social Research. Kincaid won a full scholarship to Franconia College in New Hampshire but only attended the school for two years. She took the pen name Jamaica Kincaid in 1973 and got a job as a staff writer at the New Yorker in 1976. She stayed with the New Yorker until 1995, even though she and her husband, Allen Shawn, moved to Bennington, Vermont in 1985 to teach at Bennington College. Her writing talents developed over the years and she has published numerous short stories, essays, and novels. Her works include: "At the Bottom of the River"(1984), "Annie John" (1985), "Lucy" (1990), "The Autobiography of My Mother" (1996), "My Brother" (1997), and "My Garden (Book)"(1999), in which she describes her garden in Bennington, Vermont. Her most recent works are "Talk Stories" (2001), "Seed Gathering Atop the World" (2002), and "Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalayas" (2005). Kincaid is currently a visiting lecturer on African and African-American Studies and on English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wesleyan University in 2008.

Education

Franconia College (2 years) Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wesleyan University (2008)

Occupation

Author Lecturer