Samuel Selvon
| Samuel Selvon | |
|---|---|
|
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| Born |
20 May 1923 San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Died | 16 April 1994 (aged 70) |
| Notable works | The Lonely Londoners |
Samuel "Sam" Selvon (20 May 1923–16 April 1994) was a Trinidad-born writer. His 1956 novel The Lonely Londoners is ground-breaking in its use of creolised English, or "nation language", for narrative as well as dialogue.
Samuel Dickson Selvon was born in San Fernando in the south of Trinidad, the sixth of seven children. His parents were East Indian: his father was a first-generation Christian immigrant from Madras and his mother's father was Scottish. He was educated at Naparima College, San Fernando, before leaving at the age of 15 to work. He was a wireless operator with the local branch of the Royal Naval Reserve from 1940 to 1945. Thereafter, he moved north to Port of Spain, and from 1945 to 1950, worked for the Trinidad Guardian as a reporter and for a time on its literary page. In this period, he began writing stories and descriptive pieces, mostly under a variety of pseudonyms including Michael Wentworth, Esses, Ack-Ack, and Big Buffer. Much of this early writing is to be found in Foreday Morning (eds Kenneth Ramchand and Susheila Nasta, 1989).
Selvon moved to London, England, in the 1950s, where he worked as a clerk for the Indian Embassy, while writing in his spare time. His short stories and poetry appeared in various publications, including the London Magazine, New Statesman, and The Nation. In London he also worked with the BBC, producing two television scripts, Anansi the Spiderman, and Home Sweet India.
Selvon was a fellow in creative writing at the University of Dundee from 1975 until 1977. In the late 1970s Selvon moved to Alberta, Canada, and found a job teaching creative writing as a visiting professor at the University of Victoria. When that job ended, he took a job as a janitor. At the University of Calgary in Alberta for a few months before becoming writer-in-residence there, he was largely ignored by the Canadian literary establishment, with his works receiving no reviews during his residency.
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