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Since the English-speaking islands became independent from Britain in the 1950s, fiction and poetry have flourished. Writers use standard English and Creole. Caribbean authors often write about the search for their racial and cultural identity. They look back to their origins, mostly in Africa before slavery. Much Caribbean literature is written from and about exile. Throughout this century authors have left the Caribbean in order to try and find their identity more clearly at a distance from the islands. One of the best known writers was C.L.R. James who emigrated from Trinidad to Britain in 1932 where he worked as a cricket journalist. In 1958, he returned to Trinidad when it became independent. Other writers who emigrated to Britain included George Lamming of Barbados, Roger Mais of Jamaica and V.S. Naipaul from Trinidad.
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Nobel Laureate
Derek Walcott is one of the most famous poets and playwrights of the Caribbean. In 1992, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Born in Saint Lucia in 1930, he has lived in Britain and on several Caribbean islands. His poems explore his Caribbean heritage and his links with the rest of the world, using vivid images. As well as collections of poems he has published Another Life, an autobiography in verse, and Omeros, a narrative poem. He has also written plays, including Dream on Monkey Mountain. In 1997, he published The Bounty, his first collection of poems since winning the Nobel Prize. They tell of his sadness at leaving friends behind, but celebrate his return to the Caribbean.
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“In the English Speaking World”