Salkey, Andrew

▪ 1996

      West Indian writer (b. Jan. 30, 1928, Colón, Panama—d. April 28, 1995, Amherst, Mass.), was part of the community of influential West Indian writers living in post-World War II London. Salkey was born in Panama to Jamaican parents and was educated in Jamaica and at the University of London (B.A., 1955). In 1955 he won the Thomas Helmore Poetry Prize for "Jamaica Symphony," which was finally published as Jamaica in 1973. His first novel, A Quality of Violence (1959), set the tone for much of his later work with its Jamaican setting, sombre themes, and distinctive use of island dialect. It was quickly followed by a prodigious output of novels, poetry, radio plays, children's books, travel journals, and short stories, notably two volumes of stories about the Caribbean folk character Anancy. Salkey was also instrumental in helping other West Indian writers in his roles as a radio interviewer for BBC World Service, a contributing editor of the expatriate journal Savacou, and the editor of several anthologies, including West Indian Stories (1960), The Poetry of the Caribbean (1973), and Writing in Cuba Since the Revolution (1977). He was a professor of writing at Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass., from 1976.

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▪ Caribbean author

in full  Felix Andrew Alexander Salkey  

born Jan. 30, 1928, Colón, Panama

died April 28, 1995, Amherst, Mass., U.S.

      Caribbean author, anthologist, and editor whose work reflected a commitment to Jamaican culture.

      Raised in Jamaica, Salkey attended the University of London and became part of the London community of emerging West Indian writers. He became a freelance writer and journalist and contributed to the British Broadcasting Company as a radio interviewer, critic, and author of radio plays and features. From 1976 he was a professor of writing at Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass.

      Salkey's first novel, A Quality of Violence (1959), is set in a remote area of Jamaica about 1900, when a prolonged drought leads Christians to turn toward the older, “darker” ways of voodoo and obeah. Like many of his other books, it is narrated in a distinctive Jamaican patois that is rich with folk-speech rhythms. After a second novel, Escape to an Autumn Pavement (1960), Salkey spent several years writing stories for children. His popular short-story collection Anancy's Score (1973) featured the trickster Anancy, an engaging character in traditional Caribbean culture to whom Salkey returned in the story collection Anancy, Traveller (1992). In addition to his later novels and several volumes of poetry, Salkey edited anthologies of Jamaican and Caribbean short stories and folktales.

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