Ramabai Espinet (born 1948) is an Indo-Trinidadian poet, novelist, essayist, and critic from

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. Espinet was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. She attended

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Canada before earning a Ph.D. at the

University of the West Indies, St. Augustine The University of the West Indies at St. Augustine is a public research university in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. It is one of 5 general campuses in the University of the West Indies system, which are ranked 1st in the Caribbean. It is ra ...

, Trinidad. She currently teaches English at

Seneca College Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology is a multiple-campus public college in the Greater Toronto Area, and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada regions. It offers full-time and part-time programs at the baccalaureate, diploma, certificate an ...

. Her writings on Euro-Creole women is influenced from works from

Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she mainly resided in England, where she was sent for he ...

and

Phyllis Shand Allfrey Phyllis Byam Shand Allfrey (24 October 1908 – 4 February 1986) was a West Indian writer, socialist activist, newspaper editor and politician of the island of Dominica in the Caribbean. She is best known for her first novel, '' The Orchid Hou ...

. Most of Espinet's works relate to her Indo-Caribbean heritage. Sister Vision Press published her first four works in

, Canada.

Influence

Espinet has stated that she desires to illustrate the experiences of Indo-Caribbeans and highlight the effects of alcoholism and abuse on West Indian women. West Indians have said that the book ''The Swinging Bridge'' gives them values, articulates their experiences, and contains "language for the healing". Although Espinet talks specifically about San Fernandians, Indo-Caribbeans have noted that the book is universal and important because it tells the stories of their youth and represents their experiences for the larger society.

Works about Espinet

*"Trini-Canadian author launches debut novel Race and passion in Swinging Bridge," by Marcia Henville in ''Caribbean Voice'', 13 March 2005.
"The Swinging Bridge," reviewed by Patricia Clark
in ''College Quarterly'' 7.1 (2004). *''Coming Home'' (CaribbeanTales, 2006). A one-hour film-documentary that follows Ramabai Espinet as she returns to her hometown of San Fernando, Trinidad, in order to launch her novel ''The Swinging Bridge''. What begins as a simple nostalgic journey becomes a fascinating exploration of a brilliant writer's imagination.

Reception

From her book ''The Swinging Bridge'', Ramabai Espinet is said to have created the " kala pani poetics." The “kala pani poetics” is meaningful for two reasons: it transforms the marginalized widows in India into more autonomous members of society with mobility and it places an emphasis on the "mother history" of a scattered Indian lineage (Mehta 20).

Bibliography

*''Nuclear Seasons'' (1991) *''Beyond the Kalapani'' *''Indian Robber Talk'' *''Creation Fire: A CAFRA Reading Anthology of Caribbean Women's Poetry'' (as editor) *"Barred: Trinidad 1987" *''

The Swinging Bridge ''The Swinging Bridge'' is a novel by Ramabai Espinet, published in 2003 by HarperCollins, HarperCollins Publishing. In 2004, the novel was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, Commonwealth Writers' Prize in the category of Best Firs ...

'' (2003) **Shortlisted for the 2004

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

, category of Best First Book (Caribbean and Canada Region); longlisted for the 2005

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

; and selected for the Robert Adams lecture series 2005. *''Indian Cuisine'' (1994) *''The Princess of Spadina'' (1992) *''Ninja's Carnival'' (1993)

External links

* Clark, Patricia
"The Swinging Bridge, Reviewed by Patricia Clark"
''College Quarterly'' 7.1 (2004). * Henville, Marcia. ''Trini-Canadian author launches debut novel Race and passion in Swinging Bridge.'' ''Caribbean Voice'', 13 March 20

"Ramabai Espinet on The Swinging Bridge"
YouTube video. *
Biography
Bibliography.

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

's Digital Conservancy, Project: ''Voices from the gaps''
Short form

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espinet, Ramabai Trinidad and Tobago non-fiction writers Trinidad and Tobago novelists Trinidad and Tobago poets 1948 births Living people People from San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago York University alumni University of the West Indies alumni 21st-century women writers Trinidad and Tobago women poets 20th-century women writers Women non-fiction writers Trinidad and Tobago women novelists 21st-century novelists Seneca College faculty