Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott, born in 1930, West Indian poet, playwright, and Nobel laureate, who is known for his vivid portrayal of Caribbean culture and his inventive use of language. Born on the island of Saint Lucia, Walcott was educated at St. Mary’s College in Saint Lucia and at the University College of the West Indies in Jamaica. From 1959 to 1976, he directed the Trinidad Theater Workshop, which staged some of his plays. In 1981 he moved to the United States and settled in Boston, Massachusetts, teaching at Harvard and Boston universities. Walcott won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. See also Caribbean Literature.

Walcott has written more than 15 books of poetry and about 30 plays. Most of his writing concerns the experiences of Caribbean people. In some of his works, Walcott uses personal reflections on his own mixed African, English, and Dutch heritage to demonstrate the variety of cultural influences in Caribbean society. His writing paints Caribbean life in beautiful detail, mixing English with such folk languages as Creole. Walcott’s books of poems include Sea Grapes (1976), The Star-Apple Kingdom (1979), The Fortunate Traveller (1981), Midsummer (1984), The Arkansas Testament (1987), and Omeros (1990). His plays include Ti-Jean and His Brothers (1958); Dream on Monkey Mountain (1970); Pantomime (1978); and The Odyssey, adapted from the poem by Greek poet Homer, which was first performed as a work-in-progress in 1992. Tiepolo’s Hound (2000) is a narrative poem that interweaves the life of the poet with that of Caribbean-born impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. Walcott’s autobiographical works in verse include Another Life (1973) and The Prodigal (2004).