Jamaica Kincaid
Author of Annie John
About the Author
Jamaica Kincaid came to the United States in 1966 as a free-lance writer and is now on staff at the New Yorker. Her first volume of stories, At the Bottom of the River (1983), depicts men and women alienated from each other by conflict, physical separation, or death. The story "My Mother" vividly show more describes the painful separation between mother and daughter; and the stories in Annie John (1985) clearly reveal that the world of the past cannot be recaptured. Kincaid's poetic use of language and everyday images allows the reader to experience ordinary events with a new and heightened sensitivity. Kincaid is a relatively new writer whose works are beginning to receive critical attention. (Bowker Author Biography) Jamaica Kincaid, novelist, memoirist, & essayist, was born in St. John's, Antigua. Her books include At the Bottom of the River, Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother, and My Brother, all published by FSG. She lives with her family in Vermont. (Publisher Provided) show less
Image credit: Embassy of the U.S./Israel (Distinguished American Speaker Series)
Works by Jamaica Kincaid
My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love (1998) — Editor — 71 copies, 1 review
Wingless 2 copies
Seattle Now & Then 1 copy
Mother 1 copy
The Poor Visitor 1 copy
My Favorite Flowers 1 copy
World Writers Today 1 copy
Figures in the Distance 1 copy
Kincaid, Jamaica Archive 1 copy
Associated Works
Wayward Girls & Wicked Women: An Anthology of Subversive Stories (1986) — Contributor — 535 copies, 8 reviews
The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American American Stories Since 1970 (1999) — Contributor — 528 copies, 4 reviews
The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories (1994) — Contributor — 489 copies, 2 reviews
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times (2001) — Contributor — 451 copies, 4 reviews
You've Got to Read This: Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories that Held Them in Awe (1994) — Contributor — 385 copies, 3 reviews
The New Gothic: A Collection of Contemporary Gothic Fiction (1991) — Contributor, some editions — 264 copies, 2 reviews
Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to the Present (2007) — Contributor — 193 copies, 2 reviews
Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient… (1992) — Contributor — 163 copies
Writing Women's Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers (1994) — Contributor — 124 copies, 3 reviews
Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present (1995) — Contributor — 116 copies
Calling the Wind: Twentieth Century African-American Short Stories (1992) — Contributor — 102 copies
The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories: Reissue (Oxford Books of Prose) (1999) — Contributor — 94 copies, 1 review
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 88 copies
The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World (2002) — Contributor — 84 copies, 1 review
Black Ink: Literary Legends on the Peril, Power and Pleasure of Reading and Writing (2018) — Contributor — 81 copies
More Stories We Tell: The Best Contemporary Short Stories by North American Women (2004) — Contributor — 63 copies
How I Learned to Cook and Other Writings on Complex Mother-Daughter Relationships (2004) — Contributor — 58 copies
In the Land of the Blue Poppies: The Collected Plant-Hunting Writings of Frank Kingdon Ward (2003) — Preface — 52 copies
Jo's Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit, and Real Life (1997) — Contributor — 47 copies
Her True-True Name : an anthology of women's writing from the Caribbean (1989) — Contributor — 44 copies
A Way Out of No Way: Writing about Growing Up Black in America (1996) — Contributor — 33 copies, 2 reviews
Centers of the Self: Stories by Black American Women, from the Nineteenth Century to the Present (1994) — Contributor — 28 copies
Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women (2023) — Contributor — 24 copies, 1 review
The Bluelight Corner: Black Women Writing on Passion, Sex, and Romantic Love (1998) — Contributor — 9 copies
Amerika, Amerika bloemlezing — Contributor — 8 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Kincaid, Jamaica
- Legal name
- Potter Richardson, Elaine Cynthia
- Birthdate
- 1949-05-25
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Country (for map)
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Birthplace
- St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda
- Places of residence
- St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda (birth)
New York, New York, USA
New Hampshire, USA
North Bennington, Vermont, USA - Education
- New School for Social Research (Photography)
Franconia College (New Hampshire) - Occupations
- fact checker (Forbes magazine)
staff writer (The New Yorker)
creative writing teacher (Harvard University)
novelist
gardener
gardening writer (show all 7)
professor - Relationships
- Shawn, Allen (husband | divorced)
- Organizations
- The New Yorker
Harvard University - Awards and honors
- Lannan Literary Award (Fiction, 1999)
Paris Review Hadada Prize (2022)
Morton Dauwen Zabel Award (1984)
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (1997)
Prix Femina étranger (2000)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 2004) (show all 11)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009)
Clifton Fadiman Medal (2010)
American Book Award (2014)
Dan David Prize (2017)
Royal Society of Literature International Writer (2019) - Agent
- The Wylie Agency (UK) Ltd
- Short biography
- Jamaica Kincaid is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John's, Antigua (part of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda). She lives in North Bennington, Vermont and is Professor of African and African American Studies in Residence at Harvard University during the academic year.
- Wikipedia
Members
Discussions
YA, S. American girl moves to U.S., Irish friend, sexual discovery in Name that Book (November 2014)
Reviews
Talk Stories by Jamaica Kincaid
Horrible writing-why was this ever published?
A short (and I mean: really, really short!) story written by Antiguan-American writer Jamaica Kincaid. But this tiny read packs a powerful punch!
This little tale isn’t in the traditional story format but more like a dictatorial poem. It contains a long list of commands from a domineering mom to her daughter, all mandatory to ensure that the daughter doesn’t become “the slut I know you are so bent on becoming.” Needless to say, the list includes wonderful, practical suggestions (*cough, cough*) such as how to wash clothes or smile politely at someone you don’t like or walk like a lady.
The writing style is what elevates this little story from good to great. The whole story is written in a single paragraph, with each order being separated by a semicolon. Almost the entire writing is in the second person, directed from the mother to the daughter. There are just two first person statements when the daughter manages to get a word in the conversation, these being written in italics. The last sentence delivers the perfect ending!
Recommended if you are looking for an unusual story tackling the usual issue of how women “must” fit into society, and how this restrictive social conditioning begins at home.
4.25 stars.
This story was originally published in the June 26, 1978 issue of The New Yorker, and I read it from the archives of the magazine using this link:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1978/06/26/girl
———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Facebook | Twitter… (more)
This little tale isn’t in the traditional story format but more like a dictatorial poem. It contains a long list of commands from a domineering mom to her daughter, all mandatory to ensure that the daughter doesn’t become “the slut I know you are so bent on becoming.” Needless to say, the list includes wonderful, practical suggestions (*cough, cough*) such as how to wash clothes or smile politely at someone you don’t like or walk like a lady.
The writing style is what elevates this little story from good to great. The whole story is written in a single paragraph, with each order being separated by a semicolon. Almost the entire writing is in the second person, directed from the mother to the daughter. There are just two first person statements when the daughter manages to get a word in the conversation, these being written in italics. The last sentence delivers the perfect ending!
Recommended if you are looking for an unusual story tackling the usual issue of how women “must” fit into society, and how this restrictive social conditioning begins at home.
4.25 stars.
This story was originally published in the June 26, 1978 issue of The New Yorker, and I read it from the archives of the magazine using this link:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1978/06/26/girl
———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Facebook | Twitter… (more)
A truly heart-wrenching tale of an African American woman struggling with the loss of her mother and the absence of love in her life.
Beautiful art and great stories to go with each letter of the alphabet
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 44
- Also by
- 63
- Members
- 7,389
- Popularity
- #3,306
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 148
- ISBNs
- 286
- Languages
- 14
- Favorited
- 23