Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott, Recipient of 1992 Nobel Prize in
Literature is a poet and playwright from Saint Lucia, one of the many
lovely island nations in the Carribean i.e West Indies. He was born on
23rd January, 1930 in Castris of St. Lucia. He was from mixed racial
background with two white grand fathers and two black grand mothers.
His father was a poet and a painter and his mother loved to recite
poems- a trait which influenced the young Derek. His father died of a
disease before Derek and his twin brother Roderick were born.
In his growing period, Derek was mentored by
the famous artist Harold Simmons and the association was inspiring. He
himself learned the fine nuances of Art. Simultaneously, he wrote
poems in English, the language that he loved most. He wanted to
publish the books. His mother, in spite of her meager resources as a
teacher, would arrange some funds and the young man would rush to
Trinidad to print the book, He would later sell the book,recover money
and hand over the money back to Derek.
He graduated from the University of
the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica and moved to Trinidad in 1953 where
he worked as a journalist and teacher. He founded Trinidad
Theatre Workshop in 1959. Walcott taught literature in Boston
University, USA for two decades before retiring in 2007.
Derek was greatly influenced by T S
Eliot, Ezra Pound and the Barbadian poet Frank Collymore. His first
poem Miltonic was published when he was 14. His poem collection
In a Green Night: Poems 1948-1960 (1962) attracted
international attention. His poem Omeros (1990) is considered
an epic and is one of his major achievements. His later poems White
Egrets(2010) received T S Eliot Prize. He also won Obie Award
besides Nobel Prize in Literature.
Methodism and spirituality
run deep in Walcott's writings.
Order Derek Walcott's Books below
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