Robert Antoni (born 1958) is a

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

writer who was awarded the 1999

Aga Khan Prize for Fiction The Aga Khan Prize for Fiction was awarded by the editors of '' The Paris Review'' for what they deem to be the best short story published in the magazine in a given year. The last prize was given in 2004. No applications were accepted. The winner ...

by ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'' for ''My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head''. He is a Guggenheim Fellow for 2010 for his work on the historical novel ''As Flies to Whatless Boys''.

Early life

Robert Antoni was born in the United States of

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...

parents and grew up largely in the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, where his father practised medicine. He says his "fictional world" is "Corpus Christi", the invented island (based on Trinidad) that he introduced in his first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, ''Divina Trace'' (1991). Antoni studied at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and in the

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

programme at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, before joining the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

,Lamech Johnson, "Lecturer Launches Writing Workshop"
Tribune 242, 16 April 2014. where he began working on ''Divina Trace''. He has said that he spent a total of ten years completing the novel, which won the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. 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 First ...

for best first novel in 1992.

Career

Antoni lived for a time in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and taught at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

from 1992 to 2001. In 2004, he began teaching at

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

. In 2010, he was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

.John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
/ref> His novel ''As Flies to Whatless Boys'' was the overall winner of the 2014

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, inaugurated in 2011 by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, is an annual literary award for books by Caribbean writers published in the previous year.Lorna Goodison Lorna Gaye Goodison (born 1 August 1947)Ring, Deborah A. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 September 2013. is a Jamaican poet, essayist and memoirist, a leading West Indian writer, whose career spans four decades. She is now Professor Emerita, English ...

(winner of the poetry category for ''Oracabessa'') and

Kei Miller Kei Miller (born 24 October 1978) is a Jamaican poet, fiction writer, essayist and blogger. He is also a professor of creative writing.Key West Literary Seminar The Key West Literary Seminar is a writers' conference and festival held each January in Key West, Florida. It draws an international audience for readings, panel discussions, and workshops. History The seminar was founded in 1983 by David Kaufel ...

: Writers of the Caribbean. Antoni currently resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

where he teaches literature at The New School for Public Engagement.

Awards and honours

*1992 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book, '' Divina Trace'' *1999

, ''My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head'' *2010

for his work on the historical novel ''As Flies to Whatless Boys'' *2014

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, inaugurated in 2011 by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, is an annual literary award for books by Caribbean writers published in the previous year.Divina Trace'', Robin Clark, 1991, *'' Blessed Is the Fruit'', Henry Holt and Co., 1997, *'' My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales'', 2000; Grove Press, 2002, *''

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

'', Black Cat, 2005, *

Nonfiction

*1998 "Another Day Under the Black Volcano" in ''

Outside Magazine ''Outside'' is a magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue of the ''Outside'' magazine was published in September 1977. It is published by Outside Inc., a company that also owns various other ventures. History ''Outside'' founders were J ...

'' *1999 "Blackbeard Doesn't Come Here Anymore" in ''Outside Magazine'' *2001 "Party in the Islands" in ''Ocean Drive Magazine''

Anthologies

*Robert Antoni, Bradford Morrow (eds), ''The Archipelago: New writing from and about the Caribbean'', Bard College, 1996,

Notes

References

*Gifford, Sheryl. “(Re)Making Men, Representing the Caribbean Nation: Individuation in the Works of Fred D’Aguiar, Robert Antoni, and Marlon James.” Diss. Florida Atlantic U, 2013. *. *Patteson, Richard Francis. ''The Fiction of Robert Antoni: Writing in the Estuary'', University of the West Indies Press, 2010,

External links

Official website

"Robert Antoni by Lawrence Scott" (interview)
''BOMB'' 91, Spring 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Antoni, Robert 1958 births Living people Trinidad and Tobago novelists Duke University alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni The New School faculty Barnard College faculty Trinidad and Tobago male writers 20th-century male writers 21st-century male writers