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Jamaica Kincaid Wikipedia

Jamaica Kincaid (b. Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson, 25 May 1949 in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda) is an Antiguan-American novelist. She lived with her stepfather, a carpenter, and her mother until 1965. In Antigua, she completed her secondary education under the British system due to Antigua's status as a British colony until 1967. She went on to study photography at the New York School for Social Research after leaving the family for which she worked, and also attended Franconia College in New Hampshire for a year.
Her first writing experience involved a series of articles for Ingenue magazine. In 1973, she changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid because her family disapproved of her writing. She is a visiting professor at Harvard University and currently lives in Vermont with her husband, Allen Shawn (the son of The New Yorker's longtime editor William Shawn) and their two children.

Last Modified:   2005-12-19