Barbara Jenkins is a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

writer, whose work since 2010 has won several international prizes, including the

Commonwealth Short Story Prize The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000 to 5,000 words). The prize is open to citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations aged 18 and over. The Commonwealth Short ...

and the ''Wasafiri'' New Writing Prize.

Biography

Barbara Jenkins was born in

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

, Trinidad. She studied at the

University College of Wales , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

, and at

University College, Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. She married a fellow student, and during the 1960s lived in Wales, returning to Trinidad in the early 1970s."Barbara Jenkins"
at Peepal Tree Press. She has described her successful writing career as "accidental": after she retired as a secondary school geography teacher, she joined a writers group in 2007 at the urging of a friend, and subsequently was accepted on the workshop for regional writers hosted by the Cropper Foundation.Jonathan Ali
"The Accidental Writer"
''St. Augustine News (STAN)'', 2012. Jenkins went on to take the Master's of Fine Arts (MFA) creative writing programme at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

St Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

,Zahra Gordon
"Jenkins fills a void through writing"
''

Trinidad and Tobago Guardian The ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'' (together with the ''Sunday Guardian'') is the oldest daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago. The paper is considered the newspaper of record for Trinidad and Tobago. History Its first edition was published ...

'', 26 April 2013. graduating in 2012 with high commendation. Her MFA thesis formed the basis for her debut book, ''Sic Transit Wagon''. Her short stories have been published in journals including ''

Wasafiri ''Wasafiri'' is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word "safari" ...

'', ''

The Caribbean Writer The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a public historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the Virgin Islands on March 16, 1962. In 1986, it officially beca ...

'' and '' Small Axe'', as well as in the collections ''Moving Right Along: Caribbean Stories in Honour of John Cropper'', eds

Funso Aiyejina Funso Aiyejina (born 1949) is a Nigerian poet, short story writer, playwright and academic. He is the former Dean of Humanities and Education (until his retirement in 2014) and current Professor Emeritus at the University of the West Indies. His ...

and Judy Stone (Caroni, Trinidad: Lexicon, 2010), ''Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean'' (New York and Leeds: Peekash Press, 2014), ''Trinidad Noir: The Classics'', ed.

Robert Antoni Robert Antoni (born 1958) is a West Indian writer who was awarded the 1999 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction by ''The Paris Review'' for ''My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head''. He is a Guggenheim Fellow for 2010 for his work on the histo ...

(

Akashic Books Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's ''The Fuck Up'' in 1997, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series, Chris Abani's Black ...

, 2017),"Trinidad and Tobago Awardees: Commonwealth Writers Prize , Barbara Jenkins"
Key Note Speakers, 36th West Indian Literature Conference, University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. and ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...

'', ed.

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

(London:

Myriad Editions Myriad Editions is an independent UK publishing house based in Brighton and Hove, specialising in topical atlases, graphic non-fiction and original fiction, whose output also encompasses graphic novels that span a variety of genres, including me ...

, 2019). Her work won several international prizes: the

(Caribbean Region) in 2010 (for "Something from Nothing") and 2011 (for "Head Not Made for Hat Alone"), the ''Wasafiri'' New Writing Prize; the Canute Brodhurst Prize for short fiction from ''The Caribbean Writer''; the ''Small Axe'' short story competition in 2011; the Romance Category, My African Diaspora Short Story Contest; and the inaugural

Caribbean Communications Network The Caribbean Communications Network Ltd. (CCN) also known as the "CCN Group" Ltd., is a subsidiary of ONE Caribbean Media Limited. In December, 2005 both the Trinidad and Tobago–based Caribbean Communications Network (CCN) and the Barbados-ba ...

(CCN) Prize for a film review of the

Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival The Trinidad and Tobago film festival (ttff) is a film festival in the Anglophone Caribbean. It takes place annually in Trinidad and Tobago in the latter half of September, and runs for approximately two weeks. The festival screens feature-length n ...

, 2012. In 2013 she won the inaugural

Bocas Lit Fest The NGC Bocas Lit Fest is the Trinidad and Tobago literary festival that takes place annually during the last weekend of April in Port of Spain. Inaugurated in 2011, it is the first major literary festival in the southern Caribbean and largest li ...

's Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize (now known as the Emerging Caribbean Writers Prize, jointly administered with the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Cumper is Ch ...

), an award given to allow a Caribbean writer living and working in the Caribbean to devote time to developing or finishing a literary work, with support from an established writer as mentor. Award-winning British writer

Bernardine Evaristo Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, (born 28 May 1959) is a British author and academic. Her novel ''Girl, Woman, Other'', jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's ''The Testaments'', making her the first woman with Black ...

subsequently mentored Jenkins.

Nicholas Laughlin Nicholas Laughlin (born 6 May 1975)"In brief"
Nicholas Laughlin's website. is a writer and editor from

"Finding buried truths"
''The Caribbean Review of Books'', 24 October 2015. Her debut collection of short stories, ''Sic Transit Wagon and Other Stories'', was published in 2013 by

Peepal Tree Press Peepal Tree Press is a publisher based in Leeds, England which publishes Caribbean, Black British, and South Asian fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and academic books. It was founded after a paper shortage in Guyana halted production of new bo ...

, and in 2015 was awarded the 2014

Guyana Prize for Caribbean Literature Guyanese literature covers works including novels, poetry, plays and others written by people born or strongly-affiliated with Guyana. Formerly British Guiana, British language and style has an enduring impact on the writings from Guyana, which ar ...

for the best book of fiction. She won the Bloody Scotland-Bocas Lit Fest Crime Writing Prize in 2014. Jenkins was in 2015 the inaugural

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

International Writer in Residence at the Small Wonder Short Story Festival at

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

. An excerpt from her then novel-in-progress, ''De Rightest Place'', appeared in ''

The Caribbean Review of Books ''The Caribbean Review of Books'', or ''CRB'', is a literary magazine based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, reviewing books of Caribbean interest—by Caribbean authors or about the Caribbean—and publishing original fiction, poetry, and other literar ...

'' in October 2015. Published in 2018 by Peepal Tree Press, ''De Rightest Place'' – likened in setting to a Trinidadian

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

– has been described as "a novel with a great deal of heart. It's a funny, moving and ultimately uplifting story". In 2019, Jenkins was shortlisted for the inaugural

RSL Christopher Bland Prize The RSL Christopher Bland Prize was inaugurated by the Royal Society of Literature to encourage the work of older writers. It is awarded annually to an author of a fiction or non-fiction book who was first published when aged 50 or over. The prize ...

, set up by the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

to encourage and celebrate older writers first published at the age of 50 or over."De Rightest Place shortlisted for 2019 RSL Christopher Bland Prize"
''Wha'ppen?'', Peepal Tree Press, 1 May 2019.

Selected bibliography

* ''Sic Transit Wagon and other stories'', Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2013. * ''De Rightest Place'' (novel), Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2018. * ''The Stranger Who Was Myself'' (memoir), Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2022.

Awards

* 2010

, for "Something from Nothing" * 2011 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, for "Head Not Made for Hat Alone" * 2013 Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize * 2014

, for ''Sic Transit Wagon and Other Stories'' * 2014 Bloody Scotland-Bocas Lit Fest Crime Writing Prize * Canute Brodhurst Prize for short fiction * '' Small Axe'' short story competition * Romance Category, My African Diaspora Short Story Contest

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Barbara 21st-century short story writers 21st-century women writers Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of Cardiff University Living people People from Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago novelists Trinidad and Tobago women novelists University of the West Indies alumni Year of birth missing (living people)