Caryl Phillips

born 1958, St. Kitts, West Indies

website: www.carylphillips.com

Education

B.A. (Honours) The Queens College, Oxford University (1979)

Honorary Degrees

• Hon. D. Univ: Leeds Metropolitan University (1997)
• Hon. D. Univ: University of York (2003)
• Hon. D. Lett: University of Leeds (2003)
• Hon. D. Lett: University of the West Indies (2010)

Publications

Fiction

• IN THE FALLING SNOW (2009)
• Harvill Secker. UK
• Knopf. USA

• DANCING IN THE DARK (2005)
• Secker and Warburg. UK
• Knopf. USA

• A DISTANT SHORE (2003)
• Secker and Warburg. UK
• Knopf. USA

• THE NATURE OF BLOOD (1997)
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Knopf. USA

• CROSSING THE RIVER (1993)
• Bloomsbury. UK
• Knopf. USA (1994)

• CAMBRIDGE (1991)
• Bloomsbury. UK
• Knopf. USA (1992)

• HIGHER GROUND (1989)
• Viking. UK
• Viking. USA

• A STATE OF INDEPENDENCE (1986)
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Farrar, Straus and Giroux. USA

• THE FINAL PASSAGE (1985)
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Penguin. USA

Non fiction

• COLOUR ME ENGLISH (2011)
• Harvill Secker. UK
• The New Press. USA

• FOREIGNERS (2007)
• Harvill Secker. UK
• Knopf. USA

• A NEW WORLD ORDER (2001)
• Secker and Warburg. UK
• Vintage. USA

• THE ATLANTIC SOUND (2000)
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Knopf. USA

• THE EUROPEAN TRIBE (1987)
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Farrar, Straus and Giroux. USA

Anthologies

• THE RIGHT SET: A TENNIS ANTHOLOGY (1999) [Editor]
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Vintage. USA

• EXTRAVAGANT STRANGERS: A LITERATURE OF BELONGING (1997) [Editor]
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Vintage. USA

Plays

• ROUGH CROSSINGS (2007)
• Oberon Books. UK

• THE SHELTER (1984)
• Amber Lane Press. UK

• WHERE THERE IS DARKNESS (1982)
• Amber Lane Press. UK

• STRANGE FRUIT (1981)
• Amber Lane Press. UK

Radio Plays

• THE WASTED YEARS (1985) [In Best Radio Plays of 1984]
• Methuen. UK

Film

• THE MYSTIC MASSEUR
• Essays and Excerpts from the Screenplay (2001)
• Trinidad: Paria Publishing Company for Merchant Ivory Productions, 2001

• PLAYING AWAY (1987)
• Faber and Faber. UK
• Faber Inc. USA

Translation

Fiction and non–fiction translated into FRENCH, SWEDISH, DUTCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, LATVIAN, PORTUGESE, SPANISH, POLISH, GREEK, FINNISH, JAPANESE and TURKISH.

Works Performed

Stage Premieres

• ROUGH CROSSINGS
• Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 2007.
• Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London, 2007.
• Liverpool Playhouse, 2007.
• West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2007.

• THE SHELTER
• Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London. 1983. (Subsequent productions in Birmingham, England; New York; Montreal; Paris and Accra, Ghana)

• WHERE THERE IS DARKNESS
• Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London. 1982.

• STRANGE FRUIT
• The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. 1980 (Subsequent productions in London and Liverpool)

Film

• THE MYSTIC MASSEUR
• Merchant Ivory Productions, 2001

• PLAYING AWAY
• Film on 4, 1986

Television

Drama

• THE FINAL PASSAGE (2 x 90" films) Channel 4, 1996
• THE RECORD Channel 4, 1985
• LOST IN MUSIC BBC, 1984
• THE HOPE AND THE GLORY BBC, 1984

Documentaries – written and presented

• PROFILE: CHINUA ACHEBE – BBC4, 2003
• SOUTH BANK SHOW: CARYL PHILLIPS – ITV, April 2003
• DARKER THAN BLUE: CURTIS MAYFIELD BBC, 1995
• BOOKMARK (An interview with James Baldwin at 60) BBC, 1984
• BLACK ON BLACK (Ira Aldridge, the nineteenth century actor) LWT, 1983
• WELCOME TO BIRMINGHAM (USA), Central TV, 1983

Radio

Drama

• DINNER IN THE VILLAGE BBC Radio 4, 2011
• A LONG WAY FROM HOME BBC Radio 3, 2008
• HOTEL CRISTOBEL BBC Radio 3, 2005
• A KIND OF HOME: JAMES BALDWIN AT 60 BBC Radio 4, 2004
• WRITING FICTION BBC Radio 4, 1991
• THE PRINCE OF AFRICA BBC Radio 3, 1987
• CROSSING THE RIVER BBC Radio 3, 1985
• THE WASTED YEARS BBC Radio 4, 1984

Documentaries – written and presented

• BOOK OF THE WEEK: THE 9/11 LETTERS BBC Radio 4, September 5, 2011
• I TOO AM AMERICA: SLAVERY IN NEW YORK CITY BBC Radio 4, April 24, 2004
• MARTIN LUTHER KING: 'I HAVE A DREAM' SPEECH (15–min talk) BBC Radio 4, August 2003
• FIFTY YEARS OF WEST INDIAN MIGRATION (5–min talk) BBC Radio 4,Today Programme, June 13, 1998.
• EXTRAVAGANT STRANGERS (5 x 25–min programmes: Interviews with William Boyd, Romesh Gunesekera,Linton Kwesi Johnson, Doris Lessing, Penelope Lively) BBC Radio 3, May 1997
• THESE ISLANDS NOW: TRANSFORMATIONS IN BRITISH CULTURE ('Extravagant Strangers: The "Other" Voice in English Literature') BBC Radio 3, 1995
• THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA (6 x 30–min programmes: Interviews with Ron Brown, Jonnie Cochran, John Hope Franklin, David Levering Lewis, Rosa Parks, Paul Robeson Jr.) BBC Radio 4, 1995
• NO COMPLAINTS – JAMES BALDWIN AT 60 BBC Radio 4, 1985
• SPORT AND THE BLACK COMMUNITY BBC Radio 4, 1984
• ST. KITTS INDEPENDENCE (PRIDE OF PLACE) BBC Radio 4, 1983

Awards

• 2011: Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts
• 2007: Essence Literary Award Finalist for FOREIGNERS
• 2006: PEN/Beyond Margins Award for DANCING IN THE DARK
• 2006: Honorary Fellow, The Queen's College, Oxford University
• 2004: Caribbean American Heritage Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature
• 2004: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Finalist in Fiction for A DISTANT SHORE
• 2004: Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book for A DISTANT SHORE
• 2004: Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction Finalist for A DISTANT SHORE
• 2004: National Book Circle Critics Finalist in Fiction for A DISTANT SHORE
• 2002: Mar Del Plata Film Festival, Argentina Silver Ombu for Best Screenplay THE MYSTIC MASSEUR
• 2002: Fellow at the Centre for Scholars and Writers, New York Public Library, New York
• 2000: Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
• 1999: The University of the West Indies Humanities Scholar of the Year
• 1994: Lannan Literary Award
• 1994: James Tait Black Memorial Prize for CROSSING THE RIVER
• 1994: Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency
• 1993: The Booker Prize shortlist for CROSSING THE RIVER
• 1992: The (London) Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year for CAMBRIDGE
• 1992: Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
• 1987: The Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for THE EUROPEAN TRIBE
• 1985: Malcolm X Prize for Literature for THE FINAL PASSAGE
• 1984: BBC Giles Cooper Award "Best Radio Play of the Year" for THE WASTED YEARS
• 1984: The British Council Fiftieth Anniversary Fellowship
• 1984: Arts Council of Great Britain Bursary in Drama

Positions Held

• 2011 – present: Advisory Board of SMALL AXE, New York
• 2009: Visiting Professor, English Department, University of Oxford, England
• 2008: Montgomery Fellow in residence and Visiting Professor of English, Dartmouth College, NH
• 2007: Writer in Residence, Het Beschrijf, Brussels, Belgium
• 2005 – 2009: Vice President, North American Network of Cities of Asylum
• 2003 – present: Advisory Board of BELGIAN JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURES
• 2002 – 03: Mel and Lois Tukman Fellow of the New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers
• 2002 – present: Senior Adviser – Literature, The British Council, London
• 1996: Series Editor, FABER AND FABER, London
• 1996: Co–Producer, THE FINAL PASSAGE, Channel 4
• 1995 – present: Advisory Editor, JOURNAL OF POSTCOLONIAL WRITING, England
• 1995 – present: Advisory Editor, WASIFIRI MAGAZINE, London
• 1994: Director, HEARTLAND PRODUCTIONS LTD. [until 2000]
• 1994 – present: Consultant Editor, GRAYWOLF PRESS, Minneapolis
• 1993 – present: Contributing Editor, BOMB MAGAZINE, New York
• 1992: Consultant Editor, FABER INC. Boston [until 1994]
• 1989 – present: Board Member, THE CARIBBEAN WRITER, St. Croix, USVI
• 1988 – present: Honorary Senior Member, THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT, England
• 1985: Board Member, THE BUSH THEATRE, London [until 1989]
• 1985: Member of THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE Production Board [until 1988]
• 1982: Member of THE ARTS COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN DRAMA PANEL [until 1985]

Major Conferences and Festivals

• 2011: Reconfigurations: Remaking Narrative, Reinventing Genre in Postcolonial and Diasporic Writing and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK [Keynote Speaker]
• 2011: Singapore Writers Festival, Singapore
• 2011: American Writers Festival, Singapore Management University, Singapore [Keynote Speaker]
• 2011: Paraty International Literary Festival, Paraty, Brazil
• 2011: Time of the Writer International Writers Festival, The University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
• 2011: The Black Atlantic and the Biographical Turn: Slavery, Migration, and the Origins of the Modern World, National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, NC
• 2010: Pioneering the History of Black Britain: A Conference in Honor of James Walvin, Yale University, New Haven, CT [Organizer and Moderator]
• 2010: 'Off the Shelf' Festival of Writing and Reading, Sheffield, UK
• 2010: 'Something I Said?' Festival, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK
• 2010: Manchester Literature Festival, Manchester, UK
• 2010: Leicester O2 Academy, Leicester, UK
• 2010: Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, The University of the West Indies at St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
• 2010: Giornata in onore di Caryl Phillips, University of Calabria, Italy
• 2010: Resident Writer, Interdisciplinary Seminar in the Humanities and Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
• 2010: The Invention of Legacy: A Tribute to Hena Maes-Jelinek, Windsor, England, UK
• 2010: Northcliffe Lectures, University College, London, UK
• 2009: SAMLA conference, Atlanta, GA [Keynote Speaker]
• 2009: Slavery and Literature Conference - Yale University, New Haven, CT
• 2008: EACLALS Conference – Venice, Italy [Keynote Speaker]
• 2007: A Triangular Traffic: A Symposium on Literature, Slavery, and the Archive, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK
• 2007: The Morrell Lecture, University of York
• 2007: Transatlantic Destinies, Dartmouth College, NH [Keynote Speaker]
• 2007: Cosmopolitanism and Globalization: Memory – Spaces – Cities – Images, SUNY Stony Book, Stony Brook, NY [Keynote Speaker]
• 2007: Beyond Blackface: African Americans and American Mass Culture, 1880-1930, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC [Keynote Speaker]
• 2007: Royal and Shirley Durst Lecture, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY
• 2007: Ilkley Literature Festival, Ilkley, England
• 2007: European Perspectives on the Black Atlantic, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain [Keynote Speaker]
• 2007: "James Baldwin: Work, Life, Legacies" Queen Mary College, University of London [Keynote Speaker]
• 2007: Passa Porta Literary Festival, Brussels, Belgium (Writer-in-Residence)
• 2007: John La Rose Conference, South Bank Centre, London [Keynote speaker]
• 2006: Galway Arts Festival, Galway, Ireland
• 2006: 25 Years of Writing – Caryl Phillips, University of Liège, Belgium [Keynote speaker]
• 2006: Fundamentalism and Literature, University of Münster, Germany [Keynote speaker]
• 2005: Africa '05: In Conversation with Chinua Achebe, South Bank Centre, London
• 2005: Sierra Leone National Book Awards, Freetown, Sierra Leone [Guest of Honour]
• 2005: The African Presence in Europe, Antwerp, Belgium [Keynote speaker]
• 2005: Necessary Journeys: An International Symposium about Artistic Journeys, Departures and Returns, London [Keynote speaker]
• 2005: Vancouver International Writers Festival, Vancouver, Canada
• 2005: WordFest Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival, Calgary, Canada
• 2005: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
• 2005: Ilkley Literature Festival, Ilkley, England
• 2005: Sydney Writers Festival, Sydney, Australia (Times Literary Supplement Lecture)
• 2005: Auckland Readers and Writers Festival, Auckland, New Zealand
• 2005: Diasporic Dialogues: Race and Politics Across the Black Atlantic – University of Texas at Austin, TX
• 2005: Why Literature Matters – Yale University, New Haven, CT
• 2005: EACLALS Conference – Malta [Keynote speaker]
• 2003: Revisiting Slave Narratives – Montpellier, France
• 2003: Frontières – Paris, France [co-organizer]
• 2003: The Caribbean in New York and Paris – Bellagio, Italy [Conference organizer]
• 2002: Cairo International Film Festival, Egypt
• 2001: Voces del Caribe, Encuentro Internacional de Literatura, Madrid, Spain
• 2000: The Day of the Reader, Rotterdam, Holland
• 2000: Axial Writing Conference, Swansea, Wales [Keynote speaker]
• 2000: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
• 2000: L'Écriture Multicolore Conference – Paris, France [Co-chairman]
• 2000: Literature and Society in a Postcolonial World – Liege, Belgium [Keynote speaker]
• 2000: "Textports" Conference – Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool [Keynote speaker]
• 1999: Conference of New Literatures in English, Tubingen, Germany
• 1999: Conference in Honor of Maryse Condé, New York, NY [Keynote speaker]
• 1998: PEN 65th International Congress, Helsinki, Finland [Keynote speaker]
• 1998: Contemporary British Writing Seminar, Brussels, Belgium [Chairman]
• 1998: Arthur Ravenscroft Memorial Lecture, University of Leeds, England
• 1998: British Council Cambridge Seminar, Cambridge, England
• 1997: 20th Galway Arts Festival, Galway, Ireland
• 1997: British Council Cambridge Seminar, Cambridge, England
• 1997: Contemporary British Writing Seminar, Brussels, Belgium [Chairman]
• 1997: Brighton Festival, Brighton, England
• 1996: Second Singapore Contemporary Literature Seminar, Singapore [Chairman]
• 1996: "The Caribbean Writer" Tenth Anniversary Conference, St Croix, USVI
• 1996: Contemporary British Writing Seminar, Brussels, Belgium [Chairman]
• 1995: First Singapore Contemporary Literature Seminar, Singapore [Chairman]
• 1995: In "Other" Words: Literature in a Changing Europe, Amsterdam, Holland
• 1995: Harbourfront Reading Series' Festival of Fiction, Toronto, Canada
• 1995: Perth Writer's Festival, Perth, Australia
• 1995: Contemporary British Writing Conference, Delhi, India
• 1995: Contemporary British Writing Seminar, Jaipur, India
• 1995: Walberberg British Writers Seminar, Cologne, Germany [Chairman]
• 1994: 19th Annual Chancellor's Conference on Composition and Literature, UCLA, Los Angeles, California [Keynote speaker]
• 1994: Vancouver International Writers Festival, Vancouver, Canada
• 1994: British Council Cambridge Seminar, Cambridge, England
• 1994: Paul Edwards Memorial Conference, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• 1994: Oxford Conference for the Book, Oxford, Mississippi
• 1994: Walberberg British Writers Seminar, Cologne, Germany [Chairman]
• 1993: Finland International Writers Conference, Lhati, Finland
• 1993: Hay-on-Wye Literature Festival, Hay-on-Wye, England
• 1993: British Council Cambridge Seminar, Cambridge, England
• 1992: Hull International Literature Festival, Hull, England [Resident Writer]
• 1991: New Nation International Writers Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1991: The International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront, Toronto, Canada
• 1991: Cheltenham Literature Festival, Cheltenham, England
• 1991: British Council Cambridge Seminar, Cambridge, England
• 1991: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
• 1990: New Zealand International Writers Festival, Wellington, New Zealand
• 1990: Adelaide Writers Festival, Adelaide, Australia
• 1990: Walberberg British Writers Seminar, Cologne, Germany
• 1989: British Council Cambridge Seminar, Cambridge, England
• 1989: Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies – Silver Jubilee Conference – University of Kent, Canterbury, England
• 1989: XIIth Annual Conference of German-Speaking Countries of the New Literatures in English, Giessen, Germany [Keynote speaker]
• 1988: British Council Cambridge Seminar, Cambridge, England
• 1987: International Conference of Contemporary Writing in English, Freiburg, Germany
• 1987: British Writers Festival, Hamburg, Germany
• 1986: The International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront, Toronto, Canada

Major Reading Tours

• 2010: United Kingdom
• 2007: United States of America and United Kingdom
• 2006: Sweden
• 2005: United States of America
• 2003: Italy
• 2002: Japan
• 2001: United Kingdom
• 2000: United States of America
• 1999: Germany – Belgium – Netherlands
• 1998: Germany
• 1997: United States of America
• 1997: Canada
• 1997: Germany
• 1997: Barbados
• 1996: Germany
• 1995: Australia
• 1994: United States of America
• 1994: Singapore
• 1994: Malaysia
• 1994: Indonesia
• 1994: Sri Lanka
• 1993: United States of America
• 1991: South Africa
• 1991: Germany
• 1991: Finland
• 1991: Jamaica – Barbados – Trinidad
• 1990: Sweden
• 1990: Ghana
• 1990: New Zealand
• 1990: Australia
• 1987: India
• 1986: Germany

Teaching

• 2005 – present: Professor of English, Yale University, New Haven, CT
• 2002 – 2005: Director of Initiatives in the Humanities, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY
• 1998 – 2005: Professor of English and Henry R. Luce Professor of Migration and Social Order, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY
• 1997 – 98: Professor of English and Writer in Residence, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
• 1994 – 97: Professor of English, Writer in Residence, and Co–Director of Creative Writing Center, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
• 1992 – 94: Writer–in–Residence and Co–Director of Creative Writing Center, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
• 1990 – 92: Visiting Writer, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
• 1989: Writer–in–Residence, University of Stockholm, Sweden
• 1987: Writer–in–Residence, Literary Criterion Centre, University of Mysore, India
• 1980 – 82: Writer–in–Residence, Arts Council of Great Britain, The Factory Arts Centre, London

Visiting Positions

• 2009: Visiting Professor, Department of English, Oxford University, England
• 2008: Montgomery Fellow in Residence and Visiting Professor of English, Dartmouth College, NH
• 2005 – 2006: Visiting Professor of English and Weiss International Fellow in Literature and the Arts, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY
• 1999 and 2000: Visiting Professor in the Humanities, University of the West Indies, Barbados
• 1994: Writer-in-Residence, National Institute of Education, Singapore
• 1993 Fall: Visiting Professor of English, New York University, New York, NY
• 1992 and 1993: Visiting Writer, Humber College, Toronto, Canada
• 1991: Visiting Lecturer, University of Poznan, Poland
• 1990: Visiting Lecturer, University of Ghana, Ghana
• 1983 – 1995: Writing Instructor, Arvon Foundation, England

Courses Taught

at Yale University

• Literature of the Middle Passage
• Advanced Fiction
• Contemporary British Fiction

at Barnard College

• British Fiction: Colonialism and Class
• Literature of the Middle Passage
• Writing and Society
• Fiction Writing
• Postcolonial Literature

at Amherst College

• Writing about Reading
• Advanced Composition
• Writing Fiction
• Writing, Writers, and Society
• British Fiction in the 1980's
• British Fiction: Colonialism, Class and Representation

courses taught elsewhere

• Post-Colonial Literature [Africa, Caribbean, Canada, India, and Australia]
• Caribbean Literature since 1945
• Writing for the Stage and Screen
• Fiction Writing [Workshop and Seminar form]

Agents

Literary

• Georgia Garrett
• Rogers Coleridge and White
• 20 Powis Mews
• London W11 1JN
• Tel: 020 7221 3717
• Fax: 020 7229 9084
• E–mail: georgia@rcwlitagency.com

• Sarah Burnes
• The Gernert Company
• 136 East 57th Street
• New York, NY 10022
• Tel: 212 838 7777
• E–mail: sburnes@thegernertco.com

Dramatic

• Judy Daish
• Judy Daish Associates
• 2 St. Charles Place
• London W10 6EQ
• Tel: 020 8964 8811
• Fax: 020 8964 8966
• E–mail: judy@judydaish.com

Film Rights

• Matthew Snyder
• Creative Artists Agency
• 2000 Avenue of the Stars
• Los Angeles CA 90067
• Tel: 424 288 2000
• Fax: 424 288 3588
• E–mail: msnyder@caa.com