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{{Short description|Jamaican poet and memoirist (born 1984)}}
{{Short description|Jamaican poet and memoirist (born 1984)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| honorific_suffix =
| image = NBF2024-safiya-sinclair.jpg
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption = Sinclair at the 2024 [[National Book Festival]]
| birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1984}}
| birth_place = [[Montego Bay]], Jamaica
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Poet and memoirist
| education = [[Bennington College]]; [[University of Virginia]]; [[University of Southern California]]
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = ''Cannibal'' (2016); ''How To Say Babylon'' (2023)
| awards = [[Prairie Schooner Book Prize]]; [[Whiting Award]]; [[OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature]]
| website = {{website|https://www.safiyasinclair.com/}}
}}
'''Safiya Sinclair''' (born 1984, Montego Bay, Jamaica)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair |url=https://www.poetryinternational.com/poets-poems/poets/poet/102-29127_Sinclair |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=www.poetryinternational.com |language=nl}}</ref> is a Jamaican poet and memoirist. Her debut poetry collection, ''Cannibal,'' won several awards, including a [[Whiting Awards|Whiting Award]] for poetry in 2016 and the [[OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature]] for poetry in 2017. She is currently an associate professor of creative writing at [[Arizona State University]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Pulitzer Prize winner Mitchell S. Jackson and Whiting Award winner Safiya Sinclair join ASU's Department of English |url=https://news.asu.edu/20210621-university-news-pulitzer-prize-winner-mitchell-s-jackson-whiting-award-winner-safiya-sinclair-join-asu-english |website=ASU News |access-date=14 June 2023 |language=en |date=21 June 2021}}</ref>
'''Safiya Sinclair''' (born 1984, Montego Bay, Jamaica)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair |url=https://www.poetryinternational.com/poets-poems/poets/poet/102-29127_Sinclair |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=www.poetryinternational.com |language=nl}}</ref> is a Jamaican poet and memoirist. Her debut poetry collection, ''Cannibal,'' won several awards, including a [[Whiting Awards|Whiting Award]] for poetry in 2016 and the [[OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature]] for poetry in 2017. She is currently an associate professor of creative writing at [[Arizona State University]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Pulitzer Prize winner Mitchell S. Jackson and Whiting Award winner Safiya Sinclair join ASU's Department of English |url=https://news.asu.edu/20210621-university-news-pulitzer-prize-winner-mitchell-s-jackson-whiting-award-winner-safiya-sinclair-join-asu-english |website=ASU News |access-date=14 June 2023 |language=en |date=21 June 2021}}</ref>


== Early life and education ==
== Early life and education ==
Sinclair was born and raised in [[Montego Bay, Jamaica]]. She is the oldest of four children, with two sisters and one brother.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Sinclair |first=Safiya |date=2023-06-15 |title="Gabble Like a Thing Most Brutish" by Safiya Sinclair |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/90781/gabble-like-a-thing-most-brutish |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref> She has described her father, a reggae musician, as a "militant Rasta man". It is because of what Sinclair refers to as the "alienating" experience of [[Rastafari]] culture that she turned to poetry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair {{!}} 'There wasn't much space for me as a woman to grow and thrive' |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/author-interviews/safiya-sinclair--there-wasn8217t-much-space-for-me-as-a-woman-to-grow-and-thrive |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}</ref> At 16, her first poem was published in the [[Jamaica Observer|''Jamaican Observer'']].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Linan |first=Steve |date=2016-04-06 |title=Graduate student receives affirmation of her talent — a prestigious award for poetry |url=https://news.usc.edu/98016/graduate-student-receives-affirmation-of-her-talent-a-prestigious-award-for-poetry/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=USC News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
Sinclair was born and raised in [[Montego Bay]], Jamaica. She is the oldest of four children, with two sisters and one brother.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Sinclair |first=Safiya |date=2023-06-15 |title='Gabble Like a Thing Most Brutish' |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/90781/gabble-like-a-thing-most-brutish |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref> She has described her father, a [[reggae]] musician, as a "militant Rasta man". It is because of what Sinclair refers to as the "alienating" experience of [[Rastafari]] culture that she turned to poetry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair {{!}} 'There wasn't much space for me as a woman to grow and thrive' |first=Caroline|last=Sanderson|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/author-interviews/safiya-sinclair--there-wasn8217t-much-space-for-me-as-a-woman-to-grow-and-thrive |date=24 July 2020|access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}</ref> At 16, her first poem was published in the [[Jamaica Observer|''Jamaican Observer'']].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Linan |first=Steve |date=2016-04-06 |title=Graduate student receives affirmation of her talent — a prestigious award for poetry |url=https://news.usc.edu/98016/graduate-student-receives-affirmation-of-her-talent-a-prestigious-award-for-poetry/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=USC News |language=en-US}}</ref>


Sinclair moved to the United States in 2006 to attend college, first earning her BA from [[Bennington College]] in [[Vermont]]. She went on to obtain an [[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]] in Poetry from the [[University of Virginia]], where she studied with [[Rita Dove]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cole |first=Jess |date=2023-04-20 |title=Two Poets Who Debated Every Syllable |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/t-magazine/rita-dove-safiya-sinclair.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in Literature and Creative Writing from the [[University of Southern California]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair — ABOUT |url=https://www.safiyasinclair.com/about |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Safiya Sinclair |language=en-US}}</ref>
Sinclair moved to the United States in 2006 to attend college, first earning her BA degree from [[Bennington College]] in [[Vermont]]. She went on to obtain an [[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]] in Poetry from the [[University of Virginia]], where she studied with [[Rita Dove]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cole |first=Jess |date=2023-04-20 |title=Two Poets Who Debated Every Syllable |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/t-magazine/rita-dove-safiya-sinclair.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in Literature and Creative Writing from the [[University of Southern California]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair — ABOUT |url=https://www.safiyasinclair.com/about |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Safiya Sinclair |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Career ==
== Career ==
Sinclair's poems have been published in various journals including [[Poetry (magazine)|''Poetry'']], ''[[The Kenyon Review]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', and ''[[Granta]]''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Poetry |date=2023-06-15 |title=Safiya Sinclair |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/safiya-sinclair |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair {{!}} Kenyon Review Author |url=https://kenyonreview.org/contributor/safiya-sinclair/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Kenyon Review |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Sinclair |first=Safiya |date=2018-06-25 |title="Gospel of the Misunderstood" |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/02/gospel-of-the-misunderstood |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-08 |title=Hymen Elegy |url=https://granta.com/hymen-elegy/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Granta |language=en-US}}</ref> She wrote ''Catacombs'', a chapbook of poems and essays during a one-year return to Jamaica following her graduation from Bennington.<ref name=":0" /> It was released by Argos Books in 2011. In September 2016, she released her debut collection of poems, ''Cannibal'', through University of Nebraska Press. In 2019, [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]] purchased UK and Commonwealth rights to ''Cannibal'', ''How to Say Babylon: A Memoir'', and a third, to-be-announced book.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Picador wins seven-way auction for Jamaican poet Sinclair's memoir |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/picador-scoops-jamaican-poet-sinclairs-memoir-seven-way-auction-964921 |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}</ref> ''Cannibal'' was released in the UK in October 2020.
Sinclair's poems have been published in various journals, including [[Poetry (magazine)|''Poetry'']],<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Safiya Sinclair |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/safiya-sinclair |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref> ''[[The Kenyon Review]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair {{!}} Kenyon Review Author |url=https://kenyonreview.org/contributor/safiya-sinclair/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Kenyon Review |language=en-US}}</ref> ''[[The New Yorker]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Sinclair |first=Safiya |date=2018-06-25 |title="Gospel of the Misunderstood" |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/02/gospel-of-the-misunderstood |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> and ''[[Granta]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-08 |title=Hymen Elegy |url=https://granta.com/hymen-elegy/ |first=Safiya|last=Sinclair|access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Granta |language=en-US}}</ref>
She wrote ''Catacombs'', a chapbook of poems and essays, during a one-year return to Jamaica following her graduation from Bennington.<ref name=":0" /> It was released by Argos Books in 2011. In September 2016, she released her debut collection of poems, ''Cannibal'', through [[University of Nebraska Press]]. In 2019, [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]] purchased UK and Commonwealth rights to ''Cannibal'', ''How to Say Babylon: A Memoir'', and a third, to-be-announced book.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Picador wins seven-way auction for Jamaican poet Sinclair's memoir |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/picador-scoops-jamaican-poet-sinclairs-memoir-seven-way-auction-964921 |first=Mark|last=Chandler|date=1 March 2019|access-date=2023-06-16 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}</ref> ''Cannibal'' was released in the UK in October 2020.


=== ''Cannibal'' ===
=== ''Cannibal'' ===
Sinclair's ''Cannibal'' opens with lines spoken by [[Caliban]], an indigenous man enslaved by Prospero in Shakespeare's play, ''[[The Tempest]]''. In an essay for ''Poetry'', Sinclair explains that she first read The Tempest as a teenager in Jamaica, and at that time identified with Miranda, daughter of the oppressive Prospero.<ref name=":1" /> In subsequent readings, after Sinclair moved to the United States, she began to liken her experience of exile to that of Caliban's.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2017-04-09 |title=Safiya Sinclair Reclaims the Monstrous in 'Cannibal' |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13009537/safiya-sinclair-reclaims-the-monstrous-in-cannibal |access-date=2023-06-18 |website=KQED |language=en-us}}</ref>
Sinclair's ''Cannibal'' opens with lines spoken by [[Caliban]], an indigenous man enslaved by [[Prospero]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s play, ''[[The Tempest]]''. In an essay for ''Poetry'', Sinclair explains that she first read ''The Tempest'' as a teenager in Jamaica, and at that time identified with Miranda, daughter of the oppressive Prospero.<ref name=":1" /> In subsequent readings, after Sinclair moved to the United States, she began to liken her experience of exile to that of Caliban's.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2017-04-09 |title=Safiya Sinclair Reclaims the Monstrous in 'Cannibal' |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13009537/safiya-sinclair-reclaims-the-monstrous-in-cannibal |first=Ingrid Rojas |last=Contreras|access-date=2023-06-18 |website=KQED |language=en-us}}</ref>


Drawing connections between Caribbean experiences in present day and that of Caliban's is something [[Postcolonialism|postcolonial]] theorists and poets have done before Sinclair (hence her secondary epigraph from poet Kamau Brathwaite). In ''Cannibal'', Sinclair charts her personal experience of exile from her strict upbringing in Jamaica through her immigration to the United States. Hers is an "exile at home, exile of being in America, exile of the female body, and the exile of the English language." She chose the title, ''Cannibal'' after recognizing this thread through her poems. As she explains "The very name Caliban is a Shakespearean anagram of the word cannibal, the English variant of the Spanish word canibal, which originated from caribal, a reference to the native Carib people in the West Indies..."<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
Drawing connections between Caribbean experiences in the present day and that of Caliban's is something [[Postcolonialism|postcolonial]] theorists and poets have done before Sinclair (hence her secondary epigraph from poet [[Kamau Brathwaite]]). In ''Cannibal'', Sinclair charts her personal experience of exile from her strict upbringing in Jamaica through her immigration to the United States. Hers is an "exile at home, exile of being in America, exile of the female body, and the exile of the English language." She chose the title ''Cannibal'' after recognizing this thread through her poems. As she explains: "The very name Caliban is a Shakespearean anagram of the word cannibal, the English variant of the Spanish word canibal, which originated from caribal, a reference to the native Carib people in the West Indies..."<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />


=== Other work ===
=== Other work ===
Sinclair's debut memoir, ''How to Say Babylon'', will be published by Simon & Schuster in the US in October 2023. According to the review aggregator [[Book Marks]], the memoir received "rave" reviews from critics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book Marks reviews of How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/how-to-say-babylon-a-memoir// |access-date=October 17, 2023 |website=Book Marks |language=en-US}}</ref> It was selected as a Read With Jenna book club pick.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 28, 2023 |title=Jenna Bush Hager says her October 2023 pick is an 'incredible' memoir |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/books/read-jenna-book-club-pick-october-2023-rcna117589 |access-date=October 17, 2023 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}</ref>
Sinclair's debut memoir, ''How to Say Babylon'', was published by Simon & Schuster in the US in October 2023.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-to-Say-Babylon/Safiya-Sinclair/9781982132330|title=How to Say Babylon: A Memoir|date=3 October 2023 |publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-7971-5711-5 }}</ref> According to the review aggregator [[Book Marks]], the memoir received "rave" reviews from critics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book Marks reviews of How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/how-to-say-babylon-a-memoir// |access-date=October 17, 2023 |website=Book Marks |language=en-US}}</ref> Reviewing it in ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Quiara Alegría Hudes]] wrote: "For its sheer lusciousness of prose, the book's a banquet."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/books/review/how-to-say-babylon-safiya-sinclair.html|title=How a Strict Rastafarian Childhood Gave Way to Poetic Freedom|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Quiara Alegría|last=Hudes|date=September 29, 2023}}</ref> It was selected as a Read With Jenna book club pick.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 28, 2023 |title=Jenna Bush Hager says her October 2023 pick is an 'incredible' memoir |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/books/read-jenna-book-club-pick-october-2023-rcna117589 |access-date=October 17, 2023 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}</ref>


In addition to writing, Sinclair is also a university-level educator. Prior to joining the English department at [[Arizona State University]], Sinclair was a postdoctoral research associate in the Literary Arts Department at [[Brown University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellows 2019-2021 {{!}} Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED) {{!}} Brown University |url=https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/institutional-diversity/initiatives/presidential-diversity-postdoctoral-fellowship/presidential-diversity-postdoctoral-0#SSinclair |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=www.brown.edu}}</ref>
In addition to writing, Sinclair is also a university-level educator. Prior to joining the English department at [[Arizona State University]], she was a postdoctoral research associate in the Literary Arts Department at [[Brown University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellows 2019-2021 {{!}} Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED) {{!}} Brown University |url=https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/institutional-diversity/initiatives/presidential-diversity-postdoctoral-fellowship/presidential-diversity-postdoctoral-0#SSinclair |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=www.brown.edu}}</ref>


== Bibliography ==
== Bibliography ==
* ''Catacombs'', Argos Books (2011) {{ISBN|978-0981743592}}
* ''Catacombs'', Argos Books (2011), {{ISBN|978-0981743592}}
* ''Cannibal'', University of Nebraska Press (2016) {{ISBN|978-0803290631}}
* ''Cannibal'', University of Nebraska Press (2016), {{ISBN|978-0803290631}}
* ''How to Say Babylon: A Memoir'', Simon & Schuster (2023) {{ISBN|978-1982132330}}
* ''How to Say Babylon: A Memoir'', Simon & Schuster (2023), {{ISBN|978-1982132330}}


== Awards and nominations ==
== Awards and nominations ==
* 2015 — Prairie Schooner Book Prize, Poetry<ref>{{cite web |title=Cannibal |url=https://prairieschooner.unl.edu/book-prize/cannibal |website=Prairie Schooner |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2015 — [[Prairie Schooner Book Prize]], Poetry<ref>{{cite web |title=Cannibal |url=https://prairieschooner.unl.edu/book-prize/cannibal |website=Prairie Schooner |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2016 — [[Whiting Awards|Whiting Award]], Poetry<ref>{{cite web|url= https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/whiting-foundation-announces-winners-of-2016-writing-awards/ |title= Whiting Foundation Announces Winners of 2016 Awards for Writing |first= John |last= Williams |work= [[The New York Times]] |date= March 23, 2016 |access-date= December 21, 2023 |archive-date= December 21, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231221135758/https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/whiting-foundation-announces-winners-of-2016-writing-awards/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 2016 — Whiting Award, Poetry<ref>{{cite web |title=Safiya Sinclair |url=https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/safiya-sinclair#/ |website=www.whiting.org |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2017 — American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, Literature<ref>{{cite web |title=Awards – American Academy of Arts and Letters |url=https://artsandletters.org/awards/?awdpage=literature |website=artsandletters.org |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2017 — [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]' Metcalf Award, Literature<ref>{{cite web |title=Awards – American Academy of Arts and Letters |url=https://artsandletters.org/awards/?awdpage=literature |website=artsandletters.org |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2017 — OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Poetry<ref>{{cite web |title=OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature • Bocas Lit Fest |url=https://www.bocaslitfest.com/awards/ocm/ |website=Bocas Lit Fest |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2017 — [[OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature]], Poetry<ref>{{cite web |title=OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature • Bocas Lit Fest |url=https://www.bocaslitfest.com/awards/ocm/ |website=Bocas Lit Fest |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2017 — Phillis Wheatley Book Award, Poetry<ref>{{cite web |title=The Phillis Wheatley Book Awards |url=https://aalbc.com/books/pw-award-winning-books.php |website=AALBC.com, the African American Literature Book Club |access-date=14 June 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2017 — Phillis Wheatley Book Award, Poetry<ref>{{cite web |title=The Phillis Wheatley Book Awards |url=https://aalbc.com/books/pw-award-winning-books.php |website=AALBC.com, the African American Literature Book Club |access-date=14 June 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2024 — [[National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir and Autobiography|National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-22 |title=Here are the winners of this year's National Book Critics Circle Awards. |url=https://lithub.com/here-are-the-winners-of-this-years-national-book-critics-circle-awards-3/ |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Nominations ===
=== Nominations ===
* 2017 — PEN Open Book Award, longlisted<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tubb |first1=Nathaniel |title=2017 PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD |url=https://pen.org/2017-pen-open-book-award/ |website=PEN America |access-date=14 June 2023 |language=en |date=17 January 2017}}</ref>
* 2017 — [[PEN/Open Book|PEN Open Book Award]], longlisted<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tubb |first1=Nathaniel |title=2017 PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD |url=https://pen.org/2017-pen-open-book-award/ |website=PEN America |access-date=14 June 2023 |language=en |date=17 January 2017}}</ref>
* 2017 — PEN USA Literary Award, finalist<ref>{{cite web |title=2017 LITERARY AWARDS FINALISTS {{!}} PEN Center USA |url=https://penusa.org/2017-literary-awards-finalists |access-date=14 June 2023 |date=23 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223053958/https://penusa.org/2017-literary-awards-finalists |archive-date=2017-12-23 }}</ref>
* 2017 — PEN USA Literary Award, finalist<ref>{{cite web |title=2017 LITERARY AWARDS FINALISTS {{!}} PEN Center USA |url=https://penusa.org/2017-literary-awards-finalists |access-date=14 June 2023 |date=23 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223053958/https://penusa.org/2017-literary-awards-finalists |archive-date=2017-12-23 }}</ref>
* 2017 — Dylan Thomas Prize, longlisted<ref>{{cite web |title=2017 Longlist - Swansea University |url=https://www.swansea.ac.uk/dylan-thomas-prize/archive/2017-longlist/ |website=Swansea University |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2017 — [[Dylan Thomas Prize]], longlisted<ref>{{cite web |title=2017 Longlist - Swansea University |url=https://www.swansea.ac.uk/dylan-thomas-prize/archive/2017-longlist/ |website=Swansea University |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
* 2024 — [[Women's Prize for Non-Fiction]], longlisted<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-15 |title=Nonfiction book publishing is dominated by men. A new prize hopes to help change that |url=https://apnews.com/article/women-nonfiction-book-prize-uk-c70134420cb41ca86fe221ad5ea6f4f2 |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>


== References ==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
== External links ==
{{commonscat|Safiya Sinclair}}
* [https://www.safiyasinclair.com/ Official Website]
* [https://www.safiyasinclair.com/ Official Website]
* {{YouTube|id=qSbr1N3jcyA|title=Safiya Sinclair — How to Say Babylon - with Glory Edim}}, video (1:04:30)


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[[Category:21st-century Jamaican women writers]]
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Latest revision as of 20:08, 25 September 2024

Safiya Sinclair
Sinclair at the 2024 National Book Festival
Born1984 (age 40–41)
Montego Bay, Jamaica
EducationBennington College; University of Virginia; University of Southern California
Occupation(s)Poet and memoirist
Notable workCannibal (2016); How To Say Babylon (2023)
AwardsPrairie Schooner Book Prize; Whiting Award; OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
Websitewww.safiyasinclair.com

Safiya Sinclair (born 1984, Montego Bay, Jamaica)[1] is a Jamaican poet and memoirist. Her debut poetry collection, Cannibal, won several awards, including a Whiting Award for poetry in 2016 and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for poetry in 2017. She is currently an associate professor of creative writing at Arizona State University.[2]

Early life and education

[edit]

Sinclair was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the oldest of four children, with two sisters and one brother.[3] She has described her father, a reggae musician, as a "militant Rasta man". It is because of what Sinclair refers to as the "alienating" experience of Rastafari culture that she turned to poetry.[4] At 16, her first poem was published in the Jamaican Observer.[3][5]

Sinclair moved to the United States in 2006 to attend college, first earning her BA degree from Bennington College in Vermont. She went on to obtain an MFA in Poetry from the University of Virginia, where she studied with Rita Dove,[6] and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California.[7]

Career

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Sinclair's poems have been published in various journals, including Poetry,[8] The Kenyon Review,[9] The New Yorker,[10] and Granta.[11]

She wrote Catacombs, a chapbook of poems and essays, during a one-year return to Jamaica following her graduation from Bennington.[5] It was released by Argos Books in 2011. In September 2016, she released her debut collection of poems, Cannibal, through University of Nebraska Press. In 2019, Picador purchased UK and Commonwealth rights to Cannibal, How to Say Babylon: A Memoir, and a third, to-be-announced book.[12] Cannibal was released in the UK in October 2020.

Cannibal

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Sinclair's Cannibal opens with lines spoken by Caliban, an indigenous man enslaved by Prospero in William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. In an essay for Poetry, Sinclair explains that she first read The Tempest as a teenager in Jamaica, and at that time identified with Miranda, daughter of the oppressive Prospero.[3] In subsequent readings, after Sinclair moved to the United States, she began to liken her experience of exile to that of Caliban's.[13]

Drawing connections between Caribbean experiences in the present day and that of Caliban's is something postcolonial theorists and poets have done before Sinclair (hence her secondary epigraph from poet Kamau Brathwaite). In Cannibal, Sinclair charts her personal experience of exile from her strict upbringing in Jamaica through her immigration to the United States. Hers is an "exile at home, exile of being in America, exile of the female body, and the exile of the English language." She chose the title Cannibal after recognizing this thread through her poems. As she explains: "The very name Caliban is a Shakespearean anagram of the word cannibal, the English variant of the Spanish word canibal, which originated from caribal, a reference to the native Carib people in the West Indies..."[3][13]

Other work

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Sinclair's debut memoir, How to Say Babylon, was published by Simon & Schuster in the US in October 2023.[14] According to the review aggregator Book Marks, the memoir received "rave" reviews from critics.[15] Reviewing it in The New York Times, Quiara Alegría Hudes wrote: "For its sheer lusciousness of prose, the book's a banquet."[16] It was selected as a Read With Jenna book club pick.[17]

In addition to writing, Sinclair is also a university-level educator. Prior to joining the English department at Arizona State University, she was a postdoctoral research associate in the Literary Arts Department at Brown University.[18]

Bibliography

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  • Catacombs, Argos Books (2011), ISBN 978-0981743592
  • Cannibal, University of Nebraska Press (2016), ISBN 978-0803290631
  • How to Say Babylon: A Memoir, Simon & Schuster (2023), ISBN 978-1982132330

Awards and nominations

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Nominations

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References

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  1. ^ "Safiya Sinclair". www.poetryinternational.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Pulitzer Prize winner Mitchell S. Jackson and Whiting Award winner Safiya Sinclair join ASU's Department of English". ASU News. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Sinclair, Safiya (15 June 2023). "'Gabble Like a Thing Most Brutish'". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  4. ^ Sanderson, Caroline (24 July 2020). "Safiya Sinclair | 'There wasn't much space for me as a woman to grow and thrive'". The Bookseller. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  5. ^ a b Linan, Steve (6 April 2016). "Graduate student receives affirmation of her talent — a prestigious award for poetry". USC News. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  6. ^ Cole, Jess (20 April 2023). "Two Poets Who Debated Every Syllable". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Safiya Sinclair — ABOUT". Safiya Sinclair. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Safiya Sinclair". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Safiya Sinclair | Kenyon Review Author". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  10. ^ Sinclair, Safiya (25 June 2018). ""Gospel of the Misunderstood"". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  11. ^ Sinclair, Safiya (8 February 2017). "Hymen Elegy". Granta. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  12. ^ Chandler, Mark (1 March 2019). "Picador wins seven-way auction for Jamaican poet Sinclair's memoir". The Bookseller. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  13. ^ a b Contreras, Ingrid Rojas (9 April 2017). "Safiya Sinclair Reclaims the Monstrous in 'Cannibal'". KQED. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  14. ^ How to Say Babylon: A Memoir. Simon & Schuster. 3 October 2023. ISBN 978-1-7971-5711-5.
  15. ^ "Book Marks reviews of How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair". Book Marks. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  16. ^ Hudes, Quiara Alegría (29 September 2023). "How a Strict Rastafarian Childhood Gave Way to Poetic Freedom". The New York Times.
  17. ^ "Jenna Bush Hager says her October 2023 pick is an 'incredible' memoir". TODAY.com. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellows 2019-2021 | Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED) | Brown University". www.brown.edu. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Cannibal". Prairie Schooner. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  20. ^ Williams, John (23 March 2016). "Whiting Foundation Announces Winners of 2016 Awards for Writing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Awards – American Academy of Arts and Letters". artsandletters.org. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  22. ^ "OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature • Bocas Lit Fest". Bocas Lit Fest. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  23. ^ "The Phillis Wheatley Book Awards". AALBC.com, the African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  24. ^ "Here are the winners of this year's National Book Critics Circle Awards". Literary Hub. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  25. ^ Tubb, Nathaniel (17 January 2017). "2017 PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD". PEN America. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  26. ^ "2017 LITERARY AWARDS FINALISTS | PEN Center USA". 23 December 2017. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  27. ^ "2017 Longlist - Swansea University". Swansea University. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  28. ^ "Nonfiction book publishing is dominated by men. A new prize hopes to help change that". AP News. 15 February 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
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