More Than A Literary Festival

Author Spotlight: Oonya Kempadoo

Bocas enthusiasts, we’ve just two weeks left to go until the festival officially kicks off! To further whet your appetite for the impending literary banquet, we’ll spend this time helping you fill in your “Who’s Who” primer of speakers, writers and other talent you won’t want to miss — along with the corresponding dates for their events. Today, let’s get better acquainted with Grenada-based writer and social development researcher, Oonya Kempadoo, who is the author of three novels: Buxton Spice (1998); Tide Running (2001) and the forthcoming All Decent Animals (2013).

Buxton Spice‘s publication established Kempadoo as a vigorous, promising talent in regional and international literary waters: it’s described as “a superb, and superbly written, novel of childhood and childhood’s end” by Patrick Markee in his 1999 New York Times Book Review (full review here). Tide Running, the novelist’s sophomore offering, was the recipient of a prestigious 2002 Casa de las Américas prize. In a review for Calabash Journal, (full review here) Tiphanie Yanique hails the novel as a success on both the critical and popular fronts, qualifying the achievement as “a fine balance for a relatively new novelist to make.” Both Tide Running and Buxton Spice were nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards (and, excitingly, Tide Running is currently being adapted for film!)

AllDecentAnimalsThe writer’s third novel, All Decent Animals, is described on Macmillan Publishing’s US site as “a novel about relationships, examined through the distinct rhythms of the city of Port of Spain … a forthright inquiry into the complexity of character, social issues, and island society, with all the island’s humor, mysticism, and tragedy.” It marks Kempadoo’s first full-length fiction publication in over a decade, a much-anticipated landmark, and one we’re thrilled to be able to experience at this year’s NGC Bocas Lit Fest.

Where can you see Oonya Kempadoo at this year’s festival?

  • Saturday, April 27th: A fiction panel with 2013 OCM Bocas Prize longlistee, Lawrence Scott. (4.30–5.30 pm, Old Fire Station)

Leave a Comment

Scroll to Top