January 2010
Migrant Journeys: A Conversation with Caryl Phillips, with Elvira PulitanoThis is a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in Atlantic Studies © 2009 Copyright Taylor & Francis; Atlantic Studies is available online.
June 2009
Cambridge released on audio in UKAs of 9 May, Cambridge has been released as an audiobook in the UK by Clipper Audio in an unabridge edition narrated by Adjoa Andoh. You can order it online via the "Where to buy" page.
April 2009
New collection of interviewsConversations with Caryl Phillips, a new collection of nineteen interviews conducted over more than two decades on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Caribbean, will be published in May. The collection has been edited by Renee T. Schatteman, and is published by University Press of Mississippi.
Phillips to deliver Northcliffe Lectures in 2010Caryl Phillips will be delivering the Northcliffe Lectures at University College, London in spring 2010.
January 2009
In the Falling Snow publication date announced
Phillips's latest novel, In the Falling Snow, will be published in the UK by Harvill Secker in May 2009, and by Alfred A. Knopf in the USA in September.
October 2008
Teaching at OxfordDuring May 2009 Caryl Phillips will be teaching at Oxford University. He will be giving a series of readings and seminars at The Queen's College, Wolfson College, and at the University Department of English.
May 2008
With Professor Stephen Clingman, March 29th 2008, Venice, Italy.
March 2008
Radio playA new radio play, A Long Way From Home, based on the last few years of the life of Marvin Gaye, will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday March 30th. It should be available online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.
October 2007
Foreigners publication October 26Read the official press release.
Reissues forthcoming in 2008
August 2007
Rough Crossings debuts in Birmingham; publication to followYou can now download an electronic version of the programme (PDF) for Rough Crossings, the Simon Schama play adapted to stage by Caryl Phillips. The play will debut 14 September at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Oberon Books will be publishing Rough Crossings, also in September, in the UK.
July 2007
Headlong Theatre unites Simon Schama and Caryl Phillips for a landmark theatrical event
- Rough Crossings
- Written by Simon Schama
- Adapted for the stage by Caryl Phillips
- DIRECTOR, Rupert Goold
- ADAPTED BY Caryl Phillips
- DESIGNER, Laura Hopkins
- LIGHTING DESIGNER, Paul Pyant
1789. As the American War of Independence reaches its climax, the freed plantation slave Thomas Peters and John Clarkson of the British navy embark upon a journey which will redefine racial politics and change attitudes towards slavery forever...
Rough Crossings tells the heroic story of the resettlement of a group of former slaves in West Africa and of the bruising relationship between Peters and Clarkson, divided by the barriers of race, but united in their ambitions of equality. Moving from the meeting houses of London to the inhospitable terrain of Sierra Leone, Rough Crossings is a vibrantly theatrical exploration of racial identity, of home, of what it means to be free.
Performance Schedule
- w/c 10th September - Birmingham Rep (first preview Friday 14th, local press Tuesday 18th, last performance Sat 22nd)
- w/c 24th September - Lyric Hammersmith (first preview Tuesday 25th, national press Friday 28th, last performance Sat 13th)
- w/c 15th October - Liverpool Everyman (first show Tuesday 16th, last performance Sat 27th)
- w/c 5th November - West Yorkshire Playhouse (first show Tuesday 6th, final performance 24th November)
June 2007
Interview"Not afraid of ambiguity," an interview with Caryl Phillips by Axel Stähler, Bonn/Münster. Read the full interview [PDF].
December 2006
New book forthcomingCaryl's new book, Foreigners, will be published in the USA and Britain in Fall 2007.
From Knopf, Fall 2007
"From 'one of the literary giants of our times' (The New York Times)—a brilliant hybrid of reportage, fiction, and historical fact that tells the stories of three black men whose tragic lives speak resoundingly to the place and role of the foreigner in English society.
"Francis Barber, 'given' to the great l8th century writer Samuel Johnson, afforded an unusual depth of freedom, which, after Johnson's death, would help hasten his wretched demise....Randolph Turpin, Britain's first black world champion boxer, who made history in 1951 by defeating Sugar Ray Robinson, and who ended his life in debt and despair...David Oluwale, a Nigerian stowaway who arrived in Leeds in 1949, the events of whose life called into question the reality of English justice, and whose death at the hands of police in 1969 served as a wake up call for the entire nation.
"Each of these men's stories is told in a different, perfectly realized voice. Each illuminates the complexity and drama that lie behind the simple notions of haplessness that have been used to explain the tragedy of their lives. And each explores, in entirely new ways, the themes—at once timeless and urgent—that have been at the heart of all of Caryl Phillips' work: belonging, identity, and race.
"Foreigners is among his most powerful, empathic, and profoundly affecting books."
November 2006
PodcastHear a podcast of Caryl's appearance with Glyn Maxwell at Lensic Theatre in Santa Fe, NM (11 November 2006) — Listen Now
May 16, 2006
Three titles to be reissuedThree novels—Dancing in the Dark, Crossing the River, and Higher Ground—will be reissued in paperback this September by Vintage UK.
September, 2005
Dancing in the Dark
A searing new novel that reimagines the remarkable, tragic, little-known life of Bert Williams (1874—1922), the first black entertainer in the United States to reach the highest levels of fame and fortune. Dancing in the Dark was published in September 2005 by Secker and Warburg in the UK and by Alfred A. Knopf in the USA. Paperback editions will be published by Vintage in September 2006 in the United States and October 2006 in the UK.
August 4, 2005
Article published- The Colour of Funny, an article about the novel Dancing in the Dark was published by The Independent (UK).
upcoming readings
Click here for a full listing of scheduled readings and appearances.