Classic Caribbean literature – a starting point

I want to actively include Caribbean classic authors into my reading and hopefully encourage you to dive into Caribbean literature including some classics. Classic literature have value in reflecting the past, and learning from the past. The term ‘classic’ is 100% subjective. What I mean when I say ‘classic’ is a author that remains relevant across time. A author that is picked up across many generations and still remains relevant and engaging. A book or author that stands through time. As I am relying on research online to find these classic authors of the Caribbean I started with the popular authors of the Caribbean that seem to come up across various platforms. This list is based off what I have found therefore please contact me via this blog’s email to add more as this is a growing resource. I recognise that not all authors have been able to publish due the colonisation of the Caribbean and the systemic limitation of education for the majority of the population. But I believe it is important to recognise those who did publish and present the contribution the Caribbean has made to literature.

Derek Walcott (Saint Lucian poet) In a Green Night: Poems 1948-1960 (1962)
Edward Brathwaite (Barbadian poet) Rights of Passage (1967)
V. S. Naipaul (Trinidadian-British writer) A House for Mr Biswas (1961)
Samuel Selvon (Trinidadian-British writer) The Lonely Londoners (1956)
George Lamming (Barbadian writer) In the Castle of my skin (1953)
Roger Mais (Jamaican writer) Face and Other stories, and Most of all man (1942)
Michael Anthony (Trinidadian writer) The Games were coming (1963)
V. S. Reid (Jamaican writer) New Day (1949)
Orlando Patterson (Jamaican-American writer) The Children of Sisyphus (1964)
Earl Lovelace (Trinidadian writer) While Gods are falling (1965)
Jean Rhys (British-Dominican writer) Postures (1928) Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)
Martin Carter (Guyanese poet) The Hill of Fire Glows Red (1951)
Geoffrey Drayton (Barbadian writer) Christopher (1959)
Edgar Mittleholzer (Guyanese-British writer) Corentyne Thunder (1941)
Merle Hodge (Trinidad and Tobago writer) Crick Crack, Monkey (1970) & For the life of Laetitia (1993)
Zee Edgell (Belizean- American writer) Beka Lamb (1982) & Time and the river (2007)
Alvin Bennett God (Jamaican writer) The Stonebreaker (1964)
John Hearne (Jamaican writer) Voices under the window (1955), the faces of love, stranger at the gate, the autumn equinox, land of the living and the secure salvation (1956 – 1961)
H. D. Delisser (Jamaican writer) Jane: A story of Jamaica, The white witch of Rosehall (1929)
Jacques Roumain (Haitian writer) Masters of the dew (1947)
Ian McDonald (Guyanese/West Indian writer) The Humming-bird tree (1969)
Joseph Zobel (Martinican writer) La Rue Cases-Negres (Black Shack Alley or Sugar Cane Alley) (1950)
Denis Williams (Guyanese writer) Other Leopards (1963), The Third Temptation (1968)
Simone Schwarz-Bart (Guadeloupean writer) The Bridge of beyond (1972)
Glissant Garth St. Omer (St. Lucian writer) Syrop (1964) Room on the Hill (1968)
Jamaica Kincaid (Antiguan-American writer) At the bottom of the river (1983) At the bottom of the garden (1984) Annie John (1985) Annie, Gwen, Lilly, Pam and Tulip (1986) A small place (1988) Lucy (1990) The autobiography of my mother (1996) My Brother (1997)

You will find reviews and wrap ups of books from this list and more that I have read over the years. Keep any eye out for those posts. Sign up to be emailed when I post on this blog. You can do this in the black box on the right hand side of this page. I have made some graphics and lists to track your Caribbean reads. Visit my pinterest page to see more visual recommendations.