British-Guyanese author of twelve books, including novels, poems and plays. Year of Plagues: A Memoir of 2020 is his latest book, his first non-fiction work and was named Book of the Year in 2021 by the New Statesman and The Times Literary Supplement (TLS). His acclaimed first novel The Longest Memory (1994) won the Whitbread Prize for a first novel and the David Higham Prize for Fiction. His first poetry collection Mama Dot (1985) won the Malcolm X Poetry Prize and a Poetry Book Society recommendation, Airy Hall (1989) won the Guyana Prize for Poetry. He is professor of literature and creative writing at UCLA.