Michael Anthony HBM (10 February 1930 – 24 August 2023) was a Trinidad and Tobago author and historian, who was named by CNC3 as one of the "50 most influential people in Trinidad and Tobago".[1]
Michael Anthony | |
|---|---|
 Anthony in 2020 | |
| Born | 10 February 1930 Mayaro, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Died | 24 August 2023 (aged 93) Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Occupation | Author, historian |
| Spouse | Yvette Phillips |
| Children | 4 |
Early life and education
editBorn in the county of Mayaro, Trinidad, on 10 February 1930,[2][3][4][5] to Nathaniel Anthony and Eva Jones Lazarus, Michael Anthony was educated on the island at Mayaro Roman Catholic School and Junior Technical College in San Fernando. He subsequently took a job as a laundry worker in Pointe-à-Pierre for five years but had ambitions to become a journalist. Later on, poems of his were published by the Trinidad Guardian in 1954. Yet it was not enough for him to secure a new job locally and Anthony decided to further his career in the United Kingdom.
Career outside Trinidad
editAnthony's voyage to the UK on board the Hildebrandt took place in December 1954. In England he held several jobs, including as a sub-editor at Reuters news agency (1964–1968), while developing his career as a writer, writing short stories for the BBC radio programme Caribbean Voices.
In 1958 he married Yvette Phillips and they had four children — Jennifer, Keith, Carlos and Sandra.
Four years later, Anthony published his first book, The Games Were Coming, a cycling story inspired by real events. He followed up its success with The Year in San Fernando and Green Days by the River. He eventually returned to Trinidad in 1970, after spending two years as part of the Trinidadian diplomatic corps in Brazil, where his novel King of the Masquerade is set, and he worked variously as an editor, a researcher for the Ministry of Culture, and as a radio broadcaster of historical programmes. In 1992, he spent time at the University of Richmond in the U.S. state of Virginia, teaching creative writing.
In his five-decade career, Anthony had over 30 titles published, including novels, collections of short fiction, books for younger readers, travelogues and histories. He has also been a contributor to many anthologies and journals, including Caribbean Prose, Island Voices, Stories from the Caribbean, Response, The Sun's Eyes, West Indian Narrative, The Bajan, and BIM magazine.
Death
editMichael Anthony died on 24 August 2023, at the age of 93.[6]
Awards and honours
editIn 1979 Michael Anthony was awarded the Hummingbird Medal (Gold) for his contributions to literature, and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 2003.[7]
Bibliography
edit- The Games Were Coming (1963)
- The Year in San Fernando (1965; revised edition 1970)
- Green Days by the River (1967)
- Tales for Young and Old (1967)
- Sandra Street and Other Stories (1973)
- Cricket in the Road (1973)
- King of the Masquerade (1974)
- Glimpses of Trinidad and Tobago (1974)
- Profile Trinidad (1974)
- Streets of Conflict (1976)
- Folk Tales and Fantasies (1976)
- The Making of Port of Spain (1978)
- All That Glitters (1981) (cited by the author as his favourite)
- Bright Road to El Dorado (1983)
- A Better and Brighter Day (1988)
- The Golden Quest: The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1992)
- The Chieftain's Carnival and Other Stories (1993)
- In the Heat of the Day (1996)
- Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago (1997)
- High Tide of Intrigue (2001)
- Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago (2001)
- The Sound of Marching Feet (2020)
Further reading
edit- Kenneth Ramchand, "Novels of Childhood", in The West Indian Novel and Its Background. London: Faber & Faber, and New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970.
- James Brockway, Books and Bookmen, February 1974.
- World Literature Today, Spring 1997, p. 445.
- Americas, November/December 1997, p. 63.
References
edit- ^ "50 most Influential people in Trinidad & Tobago: Michael Anthony" on YouTube, CNC3 Television, 26 August 2012.
- ^ Tony Simoes Da Silva. "Anthony, Michael". Blackwell Reference Online.
- ^ "Local author examines the history of Toco". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 21 August 2012.
- ^ "The journey of Michael Anthony". Trinidad and Tobago Express. 27 January 2014. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ^ "Michael Anthony: Author and Historian". National Library and Information Systems Authority (NALIS). Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ^ Webb, Yvonne (25 August 2023). "Literary giant Michael Anthony dies". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
- ^ "Michael Anthony Book Launch" Archived 28 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, NALIS, 2010.
External links
edit- Raymond Ramcharitar, "Michael Anthony cultivates a subtler kind of fiction", IslandMix, 11 May 2003
- "Michael Anthony", Encyclopædia Britannica
- Jeremy Poynting, "Michael Anthony", Contemporary Novelists, 2001. Encyclopedia.com
- Carol Brennan, "Michael Anthony", Contemporary Black Biography.
- Shamshu Deen, "Michael Anthony: A Giant Among Us", Trinbagopan.com
- "Michael Anthony: Author and Historian", NALIS, Trinidad and Tobago.
- The literary papers of Michael Anthony can be found across repositories in Trinidad and Tobago and in the United States. Part of Anthony's archival collection, the Michael Anthony Papers is held at The Alma Jordan Library, Special Collections, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Port of Spain. The Michael Anthony Papers, 1957-1984 are held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.