Marcia Douglas is a novelist, poet, and performer.

Life and education

Douglas was born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to Jamaican parents. Her family returned to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

when Douglas was six, and she grew up in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. Douglas received an MFA in creative writing from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

and a Ph.D. in English from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

, where she studied African American/Caribbean literature and creative writing (fiction and poetry).

Work

Douglas is the author of the novels ''Madam Fate'' (1999), ''Notes from a Writer's Book of Cures and Spells'' (2005), and '' The Marvellous Equations of the Dread: a Novel in Bass Riddim'' (2016), as well as the collection of poetry ''Electricity Comes to Cocoa Bottom'' (1999). Her work has appeared in journals and anthologies internationally, including ''Edexcel Anthology for English Language/London Examinations IGCSE'', ''The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse'', ''The Forward Book of Poetry'', ''Sisters of Caliban: Contemporary Women Poets of the Caribbean'', ''Cultural Activism: Poetic Voices'', ''Political Voices'', ''Kingston Noir'', ''Jubilation! Poems Celebrating 50 Years of Jamaican Independence'', ''Mojo: Conjure Stories'', ''Whispers from Under the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction'', ''Caribbean Erotic: Poetry, Prose, Essays'', ''In This Breadfruit Kingdom: An Anthology of Jamaican Poetry, Queen's Case: A Collection of Contemporary Jamaican Short Stories, The Art of Friction: Where (Non) Fictions Come Together'', and ''Home: An Imagined Landscape''. Douglas performs a one-woman show, ''Natural Herstory'', which brings to life the strengths and struggles of women in contemporary Jamaica. Her most recent novel, ''The Marvellous Equations of the Dread,'' has been praised by '' Vanity Fair'' as "a whirlwind of a novel that sways to an irresistible beat." Douglas is a professor of Caribbean Literature and Creative Writing at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

Selected works

;Novels *''Madam Fate''. SoHo Press. 1999. . *''Notes from a Writer’s Book of Cures and Spells''. Peepal Tree Press. 2005. . *'' The Marvellous Equations of the Dread: a Novel in Bass Riddim''. New Directions Publishing. 2018. . ;Poetry *''Electricity Comes to Cocoa Bottom''. Peepal Tree Press. 1999. .

Awards

Douglas's awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a 2020 Creative Capital Award and a U.K. Poetry Book Society Recommendation. ''The Marvellous Equations of the Dread'' was long-listed for the 2016

Republic of Consciousness Prize The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses is an annual British literary prize founded by the author Neil Griffiths. It rewards fiction published by UK and Irish small presses, defined as those with fewer than five full-time employee ...

and the 2017 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

References

External links

* * https://www.ndbooks.com/author/marcia-douglas/ * http://caribbeansf.com/authors/marcia-douglas/ * https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/boulder/speaker/marcia-douglas-2/ * http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/04/20/becoming-the-brown-girl-in-the-ring/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Marcia 1961 births Living people Writers from Kingston, Jamaica American women novelists Jamaican women novelists English-language poets American feminist writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century Jamaican novelists 21st-century Jamaican novelists American women poets Jamaican women poets 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets 20th-century Jamaican poets 21st-century Jamaican poets Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Binghamton University alumni University of Colorado Boulder faculty 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers