Novelist Oonya Kempadoo will teach a creative writing course (ENG 281) in the spring semester at Capital Community College as part of her year in Connecticut as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar-In-Residence.
Kempadoo’s most recent book “All Decent Animals” was listed sixth on Oprah Winfrey’s 2013 summer reading list. The novel “looks at the personal aesthetic choices and the island of Trinidad – a country still developing economically but rich culturally, aiming at ‘world-class’ status amid its poor island cousins,” according to Kempadoo’s publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. “It is a novel about relationships, examined through distinct rhythms of the city of Port of Spain.”
Oonya Kempadoo
Kempadoo is also the author of “Buxton Spice” and a second novel, “Tide Running”, which won the prestigious Casa de las Americas Literary Prize for best English or Creole novel.
Faculty and students at Capital were introduced to Kempadoo at the October 31st Caribbean Literary & Arts Festival where she was the keynote speaker at an all-college “Common Hour.”. The annual festival offers a mix of Caribbean art, music and literary discussion and has been held on campus for the last several years. Kempadoo spent the fall semester at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury where she taught a creative writing course in Caribbean Literature.
Oonya Kempadoo was born in England to Guyanese parents. She has lived in Europe and one various islands in the Caribbean. She resides in St. George’s Grenada. Kempadoo is one of approximately 800 outstanding foreign faculty and professionals who are teaching or conducting research in the U.S. in 2013-2014. The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program brings scholars and professionals from abroad to U.S. colleges and universities to significantly internationalize campuses and curriculum. The Fulbright Program, named for U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, is the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program and is sponsored by the Department of State. www.fulbright.state.gov
@ Capital Community College 