Kincaid at Harvard 2014

"Many of you might be shocked to hear that the celebrated novelist Jamaica Kincaid is teaching a class here this year, African American Literature from the Beginnings to the Harlem Renaissance. You might be familiar with her more famous works, namely Annie John and Lucy. Be sure to check out her latest novel, See Now Then, and maybe have a chat with her during office hours." (Harvard Crimson)

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/11/10/literary-leisure-by-harvard-very-own/

I'd love to have the opportunity to chat with Jamaica Kincaid during her office hours. I have so many inappropriate questions. I guess I would need to prepare so I would not offend. 

Interview with Jamaica Kincaid

After the publication of Jamaica Kincaid's See Now Then, questions continued to develop about the autobiographical nature of her fiction writing.

 See the NPR interview here.

Jamaica Kincaid, News, and Autobiographical Connection

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> Jamaica Kincaid will present “The Writer in Her World,” the annual Frances Steloff Lecture/Reading at Skidmore College, at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall.

Admission is free and open to the public. She will receive an honorary doctorate of letters from Skidmore President Phillip Glotzbach. Following her presentation she will respond to audience questions and participate in a book signing.
Author of a wide range of books, including novels, memoirs and polemical works, Kincaid is perhaps best known for “Annie John,” “Lucy,” “At The Bottom of the River,” “Autobiography of My Mother,” “Mr. Potter” and “A Small Place.”

Her most recent book, “See Now Then,” has stirred considerable controversy, turning as it does on a disastrous marital break-up, which is said to resemble very closely the demise of Kincaid’s own long-time marriage to the son of New Yorker editor William Shawn.

Kincaid is a professor at Harvard University and a long-time visiting writer each July at Skidmore’s New York State Summer Writers Institute.

http://www.skidmorenews.com/?p=6100

Jamaica Kincaid at Skidmore

CREDIT

"Jamaica Kincaid will present “The Writer in Her World,” the annual Frances Steloff Lecture/Reading at Skidmore College Thursday, Oct. 2,  at 8 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall.  Admission is free and open to the public.
She will receive an honorary doctorate of letters from Skidmore President Phillip Glotzbach. Following her presentation she will respond to audience questions and participate in a book signing."

News: Harvard LITfest and Jamaica Kincaid

“I have this view of writing as something I’d die for,” Kincaid, an African and African American studies professor in residence, said during a panel Tuesday helping to kick off the three-day Harvard LitFest. “I want to write in the way prophets want to do something. I never knew people could become rich writing, but I wanted to write and I just did it." ~Jamaica Kincaid

Kincaid Connections

"Earlier this year, I finally met Jamaica Kincaid, my all-time favorite writer from Antigua, when New York Arts’ hosted “The Year of James Baldwin” a 15-month celebration of the author’s essays, plays, and activism. After her panel discussion, I ran up to Ms. Kincaid, hugged her and asked her why she never responded to an email that I sent her years ago detailing the similarities of her life to my mother’s and my strong ambivalence of being at once Antiguan and American, and quite frankly, not feeling like either most of the time. One of the fast friends that I made at the event snapped a pic of Ms. Kincaid and me and emailed it to me. It would be a few days before I opened it up and become deeply saddened by Ms. Kincaid ‘s resemblance to my aunt, who, like my mom, had done her time in America as a nurse and had returned to Antigua to go “rest sheself.” Mama Kincaid’s beautiful brown skin had no cracks, but did exhibit visible folds and creases. I worried. I worried about what would become of Caribbean literature when Kincaid put her pen down for good. I mean, who would write about hating their mothers, colonization, white supremacy, isolation, the wretched effects of unattended loneliness, and human suffering in such a hypnotic and uncomfortable way that overwhelms, comforts, and transforms?"

~ Tonya Garcia

 - See more at: http://madamenoire.com/449534/naomi-jackson-tiphanie-yanique-two-contemporary-caribbean-writers-must-know/#sthash.7GQA730I.dpuf

Kincaid Inspires Reflection

How is Jamaica Kincaid relevant? Consider this Comment by By Terrence J. Roberts, Ph.D.

I attended a lecture last year by noted author Jamaica Kincaid. During the question-and-answer period following the lecture, a young white male raised his hand. “What can I do to help?” Ms. Kincaid looked at him, not without compassion, and was silent for many seconds. “Young man, there is nothing you can do to help.”

There was a collective, almost imperceptible, holding of breath as we audience members braced ourselves for what might follow. “Because,” she said, “what I want is for none of this ever to have happened.” We breathed again, not so much in relief but in resigned acceptance of a shared reality that seemed totally immune to any of our attempts to change it.

Link to full article:

http://wavenewspapers.com/opinion/article_c39cb126-dc88-11e3-b59a-001a4bcf6878.html?TNNoMobile

Should a Movie be Made of Kincaid's Novel "Lucy" ?

LUCY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

Can a novel ever be made into an excellent film?

Most literary works suffer when being represented as screen plays. The characters change, the plot changes and sometimes even the conclusion is different.

Still discovering that Kincaid's novel, Lucy is being made into a film is exciting.

I can hear the au par Lucy speaking from the pages of Kincaid's novel,

 "Let's just say I work here until Hollywood discovers me." It would be great to say -

LUCY YOU'VE BEEN DISCOVERED!