Fun Facts Friday: Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott (23 January, 1930) is an award winning playwright and poet hailing from St. Lucia.

1. Mr. Walcott’s ancestors were slaves in the West Indies, and slavery is a theme in his work.
2. Playwright Roderick Walcott is the author’s twin brother.
3. Both of Mr. Walcott’s parents were schoolteachers.
4. When he was 18, Mr. Walcott’s first book of poems was published.
5. In 1957, the author received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation which allowed him to study in New York for two years.
6. Upon his return, Mr. Walcott founded the Trinidad Theater Workshop.
7. To this day, Mr. Walcott continues to publish poetry.
8. The author wrote over 30 plays.
9. Mr. Walcott is the first Caribbean writer to win the Nobel Prize.
10. Mr. Walcott have earned many awards over his career including the Obie Award, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award, a Royal Society of Literature Award, the Queen’s Medal for Poetry, the inaugural OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize.

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