The Modern Novel

Biography

Jamaica Kincaid was born Elaine Potter Richardson in St. John’s, Antigua in 1949. Soon after her birth, her mother married a carpenter, David Drew, who was not Kincaid’s biological father. She was an only child till she was nine and very close to her mother but then her mother had three sons in quick succession. She was very fond of school and very upset when she was taken out of school at age of thirteen when her father became ill and could not work. She left for the United States when she was seventeen, to work as an au pair. She worked at various jobs and also took various classes. When she decided that she wanted to write, she adopted the pen name of Jamaica Kincaid. She became involved with William Shawn, editor of the New Yorker, who became her mentor and whose son, Allen, she eventually married. After writing for various magazines, she produced a series of novels, often autobiographical in nature but also dealing with issues of racism, sexism and colonialism. She has also written on gardening topics.

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Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid
Those Words That Echo . . . Echo . . . Echo Through Life (article by Kincaid)
Interview