Fred D'Aguiar (born 2 February 1960) is a British poet, novelist, and playwright. He is currently Professor of English at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA).

Life

Fred D'Aguiar was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, in 1960 to Guyanese parents, Malcolm Frederick D'Aguiar and Kathleen Agatha Messiah. In 1962 he was taken to

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, living there with his grandmother until 1972, when he returned to England at the age of 12. D'Aguiar trained as a

psychiatric nurse Psychiatric nursing or mental health nursing is the appointed position of a nurse that specialises in mental health, and cares for people of all ages experiencing mental illnesses or distress. These include: neurodevelopmental disorders, schizophr ...

before reading African and Caribbean Studies at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, graduating in 1985. On graduating he applied for a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

on the Guyanese author

Wilson Harris Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (24 March 1921 – 8 March 2018) was a Guyana, Guyanese writer. He initially wrote poetry, but subsequently became a novelist and essayist. His writing style is often said to be abstract and densely metaphorical, and ...

at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, but – after winning two writers-in-residency positions, at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

(where he was the Judith E. Wilson Fellow from 1989 to 1990) – his PhD studies "receded from ismind" and he began to focus all of his energies on creative writing. In 1994, D'Aguiar moved to the United States to take up a Visiting Writer position at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...

(1992–94). Since then, he has taught at

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

(Assistant Professor, 1994–95) and the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

where he held the position of Professor of English and

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

. In 2003 he took up the position of Professor of English and Co-Director of the

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

. In the fall of 2015, he became a Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, which post ended in 2019. D'Aguiar fathers a son with fellow poet

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham A ...

Poetry, novels and plays

Poetry

D'Aguiar's first collection of poetry, ''Mama Dot'' (Chatto, 1985), was published "to much acclaim". It centres on the eponymous "

archetypal The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, History of psychology#Emergence of German experimental psychology, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a stat ...

" grandmother figure, Mama Dot, and was noted for its fusion of standard English and

Nation language "Nation language" is the term coined by scholar and poet Kamau Brathwaite McArthur, Tom,"Nation language" ''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'', 1998. that is now commonly preferred to describe the use of non-standard English in t ...

. Along with his 1989 collection ''Airy Hall'' (named after the village in Guyana where D'Aguiar spent his childhood), ''Mama Dot'' won the Guyana Poetry Prize. Where D'Aguiar's first two poetry collections were set in Guyana, his third – ''British Subjects'' (1993) – explores the experiences of peoples of the West Indian diaspora in London. London was also the focus of another long poem, ''Sweet Thames'', which was broadcast as part of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

"Worlds on Film" series on 3 July 1992 and won the

Commission for Racial Equality In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

Race in the Media Award. After turning to writing novels for a period of time, D'Aguiar returned to the poetic mode in 1998, publishing ''Bill of Rights'' (1998): a long narrative poem centred on the

Jonestown The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, an American religious movement under the leadership of Jim Jones. Jonestown became in ...

massacre in Guyana (1979) told in several Guyanese versions of English, fusing patois, Creole and Nation Language with standard vernacular. It was shortlisted for the 1998 T. S. Eliot Prize. ''Bill of Rights'' was followed by another narrative poem, ''Bloodlines'' (2000), which revolves around the story of a black slave and her white lover. His 2009 collection of poetry, ''Continental Shelf'', centres on a response to the

Virginia Tech Massacre The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on Monday, April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in which 32 people were killed by a student in 2007. It was a finalist for the 2009 T. S. Eliot Prize.

Novels

D'Aguiar's first novel, ''The Longest Memory'' (1994), tells the story of Whitechapel, a slave on an 18th-century Virginia plantation. The book won both the David Higham Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread First Novel Award. It was adapted for television and televised by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in the UK. Returning to themes he had earlier developed in ''British Subjects'', D'Aguiar in his 1996 novel, ''Dear Future'', explores the history of the West Indian diaspora through a fictional account of the lives of one extended family. His third novel, ''Feeding the Ghosts'' (1997), was inspired by a visit D'Aguiar made to the

Merseyside Maritime Museum The Merseyside Maritime Museum is a museum based in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater M ...

in Liverpool and is based on the true story of the ''Zong'' massacre, in which 132 slaves were thrown from a

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ( ...

into the Atlantic for insurance purposes. According to historical accounts, one slave survived and climbed back onto the ship; and in D'Aguiar's narrative this slave – about whom there is next to no historical information – is developed as the fictional character Mintah. D'Aguiar's fourth novel, ''Bethany Bettany'' (2003), centres on a five-year-old Guyanese girl, Bethany, whose suffering has been read by some as symbolising that of a nation (Guyana) seeking to make itself whole again. His 2014 novel ''Children of Paradise'' is a fictional reimagining of the

massacre, told from the perspective of a mother and child living at the commune.

Plays

D'Aguiar's plays include ''High Life'', first produced at the Albany Empire in London in 1987, and ''A Jamaican Airman Foresees His Death'', performed at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

, London, in 1991. His radio play ''Mr Reasonable'' – about a freed black slave, a skilled silk weaver, who is engaged by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

to make theatrical costumes – was broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

on 10 April 2015."Mr Reasonable by Fred D'Aguiar"
, BBC Radio 4.

Prizes and awards

*1983: Minority Rights Group Award *1984: University of Kent T. S. Eliot Prize (for University of Kent students) *1985: GLC Literature Award *1985: Malcolm X Prize for Poetry (for ''Mama Dot'') *1989: Guyana Poetry Prize (for ''Mama Dot'' and ''Airy Hall'') *1993:

Race in the Media Award (for ''Sweet Thames'') *1994: David Higham Prize for Fiction (for ''The Longest Memory'') *1994: Whitbread First Novel Award (for ''The Longest Memory'') *1996: Guyana Prize for Literature (for ''Dear Future'') *1997: Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) (for ''Feeding the Ghosts'') *2009: T. S. Eliot Prize (Shortlist) *2019:

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards ( ) are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...

Works

*1985. ''Mama Dot''. London:

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his busines ...

. *1988. ''

The New British Poetry ''The New British Poetry 1968-88'' was a poetry anthology from 1988 in poetry, 1988, jointly edited by Gillian Allnutt, Fred D'Aguiar, Ken Edwards and Eric Mottram, respectively concerned with feminist, Black British, younger experimental and Brit ...

'' 1968–88. Edited with

Gillian Allnutt Gillian Allnutt (born 15 January 1949) is an English poet, author of 9 collections and recipient of several prizes including the 2016 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Life Allnutt was born in London, but was educated at La Sagesse School in New ...

Ken Edwards Ken Edwards (born in Gibraltar, 1950) is a poet, editor, writer and musician who has lived in England since 1968. He is associated with The British Poetry Revival. Edwards was educated at King's College, London, and at Goldsmiths'. He has been i ...

and

Eric Mottram Eric Mottram (29 December 1924 – 16 January 1995) was a British teacher, critic, editor and poet who was one of the central figures in the British Poetry Revival. Early life and education Mottram was born in London and educated at Purley Gram ...

. *1989. '' Airy Hall''. London: Chatto & Windus. *1993. ''British Subjects''. London: Bloodaxe. *1994. '' The Longest Memory''. London: Chatto & Windus. *1995. '' A Jamaican Airman Foresees His Death'' (play). London: Methuen. *1996. ''Dear Future''. London: Chatto & Windus. *1997. ''Feeding the Ghosts''. London: Chatto & Windus. *1998. ''Bill of Rights''. London: Chatto & Windus. *2000. ''Bloodlines''. London: Chatto & Windus. *2001. ''An English Sampler: New and Selected Poems''. *2004. ''Bethany Bettany'', 2003. London: Chatto & Windus. *2009. ''Continental Shelf''. Oxford: Carcanet. *2014. ''Children of Paradise''. New York:

Harper (publisher) Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

*2024. "In a Photograph with James Baldwin" in ''Encounters with James Baldwin: Celebrating 100 Years.'' London: Supernova Books.

References

External links

*
Fred D'Aguiar at The Poetry Archive
1999.
Fred D'Aguiar at This I Believe: "Dance Is Life"
as heard on ''The Bob Edwards Show'', 30 March 2012.
"The Story in History: An Interview with Fred D'Aguiar"
at ''Rain Taxi Review'', Fall 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:D'Aguiar, Fred 1960 births Living people 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British male writers 21st-century British novelists Academics of Durham University Academics of Newcastle University Academics of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Kent Bates College faculty Black British writers British dramatists and playwrights British male dramatists and playwrights British male novelists British male poets British poets English people of Guyanese descent Teachers of English University of Miami faculty Virginia Tech faculty Writing teachers