Monique Roffey

Monique Roffey (born 1965) is an award-winning Trinidadian-born British writer and memoirist.

Biography

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1965, to a British father and mother of mixed Mediterranean origins,[1] Roffey was educated at St Andrew's School in Maraval, Trinidad, and then in the UK at St Maur's Convent, and St George's College, Weybridge. She graduated with a BA in English and American Studies from the University of East Anglia in 1987 and later completed an MA and PhD in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. Between 2002 and 2006 she was a Centre Director for the Arvon Foundation and later held three posts for the Royal Literary Fund (2006–12). Roffey has taught creative writing for English PEN, the Arvon Foundation, the Writers' Lab, Skyros and on the MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London.

She is a member of the action group CaribLit (also known as CALAG – Caribbean Literature Action Group), launched in April 2012,[2] a 20-strong group of writers, publishers and literary activists committed to mentoring new talent and stimulating a literary publishing industry in the Caribbean region.[3]

She has dual nationality and divides her time between London and Port of Spain.

Works

Roffey's early body of work comprises three novels and a memoir. Sun Dog (2002), set in west London, is a magical realist tale of psychological estrangement, identity loss and subsequent individuation. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle (2009; shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize and the 2011 Encore Award), is the story of European ex-colonials living in Trinidad during the island's early Independence years and their subsequent process of creolisation. It was hailed by Commonwealth Prize-winner Olive Senior, who said:

“…it breaks entirely new ground. It is a major contribution to the New Wave of Caribbean writing: energetic, uncompromising, bold in the choice of narrative devices and a great read.”

It has been published to critical acclaim in the UK, USA and Europe.

Roffey's 2011 memoir, With the Kisses of His Mouth, is a personal account of a mid-life quest for sexual liberation and self-identification other than the aspirant hetero-normative model. It has been characterised as "a subversive work that transcends the author's personal story: it stands alone in the chasm that has opened between feminist literature and the belles du jour brigade."[4]

Her novel Archipelago, published in July 2012, set in the aftermath of a flood, examines climate change from the perspective of a man from the southern Caribbean. Andrew Miller (Costa Award winner, 2012) said: "Archipelago is beautifully done. There's a warmth to it, an exuberance and a wisdom, that makes the experience of reading it feel not just pleasurable but somehow instructive. It's funny, sometimes bitingly poignant. And how well Roffey writes a male central character. A brilliant piece of storytelling." Archipelago won the 2013 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature,[5][6] being commended for its "exploration of the greater Caribbean space in which is embedded a real-life story of trauma and loss and ultimately redemption that is both contemporary and compelling".[7] The novel was judged the winner of the fiction category of the prize, and at the Bocas Lit Fest was announced on 27 April 2013 as the best overall book from all categories.[8]

Roffey's 2014 novel, House of Ashes, is a fictionalised account of the events surrounding the 1990 attempted coup in Trinidad.[9] The Telegraph called it "vigorous, grimly absorbing tale",[10] while The Observer′s reviewer concluded: "Roffey's writing is raw and visceral and she thrusts her readers headlong into the very middle of the action, her pen as powerful as the butts of the guns shoved in her hostages' backs."[11]

A writer of dual nationality and perspective, Roffey writes about outsiders, be they the terminally awkward (August Chalmin in Sun Dog), the left-behind Europeans in Trinidad (George and Sabine Harwood in The White Woman on the Green Bicycle), or indeed herself. Stylistically, her work can be linked in terms of post-modern narrative choices, in that they often weave together magical realism, real-life historical characters and events, biography and autobiography to tackle themes of alienation and otherness.

Bibliography

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Monique Roffey: 'I wanted what my parents had'", The Guardian, 8 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "New partnership formed to support Caribbean literary scene", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 6 March 2012.
  3. ↑ "CALAG Participants", CALAG: Caribbean Literature Action Group, 20 April 2012.
  4. ↑ Kapka Kassabova, "Archipelago by Monique Roffey – review", The Guardian, 27 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Julien Neaves, "T&T writer takes top Bocas prize", Trinidad Express Newspapers, 28 April 2013.
  6. ↑ Tanya Batson-Savage, "Archipelago by Monique Roffey Cops Bocas Prize 2013", Susumba, 30 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Trinidad-Born Author Wins Regional Prize For Literature", The Gleaner, 29 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "Trinis triumph at Bocas Lit Fest", Newsday, 2 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "Monique Roffey launches latest novel House of Ashes", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 28 October 2014.
  10. ↑ Ian Thomson, "House of Ashes by Monique Roffey, review: 'knuckle-whitening'", The Telegraph, 22 July 2014.
  11. ↑ Lucy Scholes, "House of Ashes review – Monique Roffey's Caribbean coup d'etat", The Observer, 31 August 2014.
  12. ↑ Sun Dog page at Simon and Schuster UK.
  13. ↑ The White Woman on the Green Bicycle page at Simon and Schuster UK.
  14. ↑ With the Kisses of His Mouth page at Simon and Schuster UK.
  15. ↑ Archipelago page at Simon and Schuster UK.
  16. ↑ House of Ashes page at Simon and Schuster UK.
  17. ↑ Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) 2010 Archive.
  18. ↑ The Encore Award, 2011 Shortlist.
  19. ↑ Essiba Small (15 July 2013). "Bocas winner's cover goes Underground". Trinidad Express. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  20. ↑ The 2014 Orion Book Award, Orion magazine.

External links