Cecil Browne (born 1957) is a British and Vincentian writer who won the 2022

Commonwealth Short Story Prize The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000 to 5,000 words).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 ...

for Canada, UK and Europe.

Biography

Browne was born in

St Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

in 1957, in a village near Georgetown. In 1970, he moved to the United Kingdom to be with his parents. He has been a college lecturer in mathematics for his whole career, including ten years as Head of maths at

Uxbridge College Uxbridge College is a large general further education college in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Since 2017 the college has been merged with Harrow College, although it retains its individual identity. It has two campuses, in Uxbridge and in Hay ...

, a

Further Education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

college in West London. He currently lives in

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

Writing

Browne has published three books. The first ''The Moon is Following Me'', published in 2010, was a collection of short stories based around experiences of family life in a Caribbean village in the 1970s. The second, ''Feather Your Tingaling'', published in 2012, was a collection of short stories inspired by characters from Caribbean folklore. His third book, and first novel, ''Cassie P Caribbean PI'', was published in 2019. This introduces Cassie Providence, as ''the Caribbean's first female Private Investigator''. Several of Browne's short stories have been published in collections and anthologies. His story ''Coming Off the Long Run'' was published in 2018 in ''So Many Islands'', an anthology of writing from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Oceans gathered from works supported by the

Commonwealth Writers Commonwealth Writers (established in 2011) is the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation. It aims to inspire, develop and connect writers across the Commonwealth. Its flagship is a literary award for short stories, the Commonwealth Sh ...

. In 2022, Browne's short story ''A Hat for Lemer'' won the Commonwealth short story regional prize for Canada, UK and Europe. Competition judge

Stephanos Stephanides Stephanos Stephanides (born 22 October 1949) is a Cypriot-born author, poet, translator, critic, ethnographer, and documentary film maker. In 1957 he moved with his father to the United Kingdom and since then he has lived in several countries fo ...

commented that this was ''a striking and original story set in mid-19th century post-Emancipation St Vincent .. which provides a visceral understanding of a culture at a crucial point of social and historical transition''. Browne was the first Vincentian winner of this prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne (author), Cecil Living people 1957 births 21st-century male writers Saint Vincent and the Grenadines writers People from High Wycombe