Lawrence Scott (Quaker)

Lawrence Scott FRSL (born in Trinidad, 1943) is a novelist and short-story writer from Trinidad and Tobago, who divides his time between London and Port of Spain. He has also worked as a teacher of English and Drama at schools in London and in Trinidad. Scott's novels have been awarded (1998) and short-listed (1992, 2004) for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and thrice nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award (for ''Aelred's Sin'' in 2000, ''Night Calypso'' in 2006 and ''Light Falling on Bamboo'' in 2014). His stories have been much anthologised and he won the Tom-Gallon Short-Story Award in 1986.

Life and career

Born in Trinidad on a sugarcane estate where his father was the manager for Tate & Lyle, Lawrence Scott is a descendant of Trinidad's French and German creoles. "His father's side came from Germany in the 1830s and were called Schoener. His mother's family, the Lange dynasty, were French-descended and part of an established white Creole community."

Scott was educated at Boys' RC School, San Fernando, Trinidad (1950–54), and by the Benedictine monks at the Abbey School, Mount Saint Benedict, Tunapuna (1955–62), before leaving at the age of 19 for England. There he attended Prinknash Abbey, Gloucester, studying philosophy and theology (1963–67), St Clare's Hall Oxford, gaining a BA Hons. degree in English Language & Literature (1968–72), and Manchester University, earning a Certificate in Education, English & Drama (Distinction) in 1972–73.Biography, Lawrence Scott website.
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Between 1973 and 2006 Scott worked as a teacher (of English and Drama) at various schools in London and in Trinidad, including Sedgehill, London; Thomas Calton Comprehensive, London; Presentation College, San Fernando, Trinidad; Aranguez Junior Secondary, Trinidad; Tulse Hill Comprehensive and Archbishop Tenison's, London. Between 1983 and 2006 he taught Literature and Creative Writing at City & Islington Sixth Form College, London.

In parallel to his teaching, Scott's career as a creative writer includes the publication since the 1990s of novels and collections of short stories. His stories have also been broadcast on BBC radio and have been anthologised internationally, notably in ''The Penguin Book of Caribbean Short Stories'', ''The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories'' and ''Our Caribbean, A Gathering of Lesbian & Gay Writing from the Antilles'' (Duke University Press). He has published poetry in several anthologies and journals, including '' Colours of a New Day: Writing for South Africa'' (Lawrence & Wishart, 1990), ''Caribbean New Voices 1'' (Longman, 1995), ''Trinidad and Tobago Review'', ''Cross/Cultures 60'' (Editions Rodopi B.V. Amsterdam – New York, 2002), ''Agenda'' and ''Wasafiri''. In addition he is the author of numerous essays, reviews and interviews on the work of other Caribbean writers, including Earl Lovelace and Derek Walcott.

Scott was a Writer-in-Residence at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 2004. In 2006–09 he was a senior research fellow of The Academy for Arts, Letters, Culture and Public Affairs at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).

His academic research has included the Golconda Research/Writing Project, an oral history project in Trinidad. He has also researched extensively the life and times of Trinidad's 19th-century artist Michel-Jean Cazabon, which work informs his 2012 novel ''Light Falling on Bamboo''.

In 2019 Scott was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Writing

In 1986, Scott's short story "The House of Funerals" won the Tom-Gallon Award.Kim Robinson-Walcott
"Scott, Lawrence"
in Eugene Benson and L. W. Conolly (eds), ''Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English'', Routledge, 2nd edn 2005, p. 1414. Since 1992 his published books include four novels, a collection of short stories and a work of non-fiction.

His first novel, ''Witchbroom'' (1992), was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was broadcast as a ''Book at Bedtime'' on BBC Radio 4 in 1993, abridged by Margaret Busby in eight episodes, produced by Marina Salandy-Brown and read by the author. A 25th-anniversary edition of ''Witchbroom'', published by Papillote Press and readings by Ken Ramchand, Barbara Jenkins and Marina Salandy-Brown. It was described by ''Trinidad and Tobago Newsday'' as "a breathtaking novel, filled with memorable characters and important history." According to the review in ''BookBlast'', "Lawrence Scott weaves a magical, lush tapestry of words and images, bringing alive local legends and family narratives; and redressing written histories. The impact of the events recounted still resonate in Caribbean society today. A quasi-historical novel, ''Witchbroom'' recounts the story of a colonial white enclave on an offshore island through muddled memories. ... The stories are bewitching and highly disturbing. The reader surfs a tidal wave of addictive fascination like a Dickensian tricoteuse sitting beside the guillotine in Paris watching heads roll during the public executions of 1793-4.

Of his 1994 story collection ''Ballad for the New World'', ''Publishers Weekly'' said: "Scott ... has filled his collection of 12 short stories with all the rich nuances of the Caribbean, creating a convincing backdrop that allows even the most sedentary armchair traveler to visualize each tale's progression."

Scott's second novel, ''Aelred's Sin'' (1998), described by Raoul Pantin as "a fine and sensitive and compassionate book…a worthwhile contribution to the hallowed tradition of West Indian literature", won a Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book (Canada & Caribbean) in 1999. ''Night Calypso'' (2004), Scott's next novel, was described by Mike Phillips in ''The Guardian'' as "unique in being a serious, knowledgeable and beautifully written treatise about a little-known corner of experience and its relationship to a wider world", while Chris Searle in the '' Morning Star'' called it "an educative, startling and moving reading experience".

Scott's most recent novel, ''Light Falling on Bamboo'' (2012) was called "really a fascinating read" by Verdel Bishop in the ''Trinidad Express''. Set in early 19th-century Trinidad, while the novel is a re-imagining of the life of the celebrated landscape painter Cazabon, according to Monique Roffey's review in ''The Independent'' Scott captures so much more. This novel shows us the dark 'truth of an age' in a small corner of the New World, once dependent on slave labour." For the ''Financial Times'' reviewer, Scott has "conjured a convincing fictional portrait ... in this beautifully subtle and sensitive novel." Selwyn Cudjoe