Lovelace for distinguished lecture

Acclaimed Trinidadian writer Earl Lovelace will deliver the Fifth Edward Baugh Distinguished Lecture on Sunday, November 13, at 11 a.m., at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts. The lecture is being hosted by the Department of Literatures in English, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, in association with the West Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies.

The Edward Baugh Distinguished Lecture Series is an annual event organised by the Department of Literatures in English in honour of Professor Emeritus Edward Baugh. A distinguished academic and poet, Professor Baugh has garnered an international reputation as an authority on Anglophone Caribbean poetry, in general, and on the work of Derek Walcott in particular. His distinguished record of academic, administrative and public service includes a lengthy stint as the public orator of UWI, Mona, head of the Department of English, and dean and vice-dean of the Faculty of Arts and General Studies.

One of the Caribbean's most acclaimed writers, Lovelace is celebrated for his evocative lyrical fiction rooted in Trinidadian vernacular culture. Using Trinidadian speech patterns and standard English, he probes the paradoxes often inherent in social change as well as the clash between rural and urban cultures.

Critics describe his work as being firmly positioned amongst the lives and voices of ordinary people, whether the focus is on the poverty-stricken 'yard' culture of Port of Spain or the religious Spiritual Baptist traditions of the rural population. From his earliest novels, Lovelace has explored the complex political tensions at work, in an island culture born out of a history of slavery and indenture.