21 Facts About Earl Lovelace

Earl Wilbert Lovelace was born on 13 July 1935 and is a Trinidad and Tobago novelist, journalist, playwright, and short story writer.

Earl Lovelace has written drama, essays, short stories and children's books.

Earl Lovelace worked at the Trinidad Guardian as a proofreader from 1953 to 1954, and then for the Department of Forestry and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Earl Lovelace began writing while stationed in the village of Valencia, in north-eastern Trinidad, as a forest ranger.

Earl Lovelace had a posting as Agricultural Officer in Rio Claro in the south-east of the island.

Earl Lovelace played cricket and football, and gambled in the rum shop with the villagers.

Earl Lovelace joined up to take part in the Best Village Competitions.

Earl Lovelace was living among ordinary people as one of them, and as an artist observing.

From 1966 to 1967, Earl Lovelace studied at Howard University, Washington, DC, and in 1974 he received an MA in English from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, where he was Visiting Novelist.

Earl Lovelace taught at Federal City College, Washington, DC, and from 1977 to 1987 he lectured in literature and creative writing at the University of the West Indies at St Augustine.

Earl Lovelace was appointed Writer-in-Residence in England by the London Arts Board, a visiting lecturer in the Africana Studies Department at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and was Distinguished Novelist in the Department of English at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington.

Earl Lovelace was Trinidad and Tobago's artistic director for Carifesta, the Caribbean Festival of Arts, which was held in the country in 1992,1995 and 2006.

Earl Lovelace is a columnist for the Trinidad Express, and has contributed to a number of periodicals, including Voices, South, and Wasafiri.

Earl Lovelace is the president of the Association of Caribbean Writers.

Earl Lovelace is the subject of a 2014 documentary film by Funso Aiyejina entitled A Writer In His Place.

In July 2015, to mark his 80th birthday, Earl Lovelace was honoured by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest with celebrations in Tobago, including film screenings.

Earl Lovelace is the subject of a 2017 biography by Funso Aiyejina.

In 1982, Earl Lovelace published the novel The Wine of Astonishment, which deals with the struggle of a Spiritual Baptist community, from the passing of the prohibition ordinance until the ban, the story "animated by a Creole narrative voice" as in other work by Earl Lovelace.

In 2011, Earl Lovelace's Is Just a Movie was published by Faber and Faber.

Earl Lovelace has written plays, short stories, essays, and a children's book, as well as journalism.

Earl Lovelace has collaborated with his filmmaker daughter Asha Lovelace on projects including writing the 2004 feature film Joebell and America, based on his short story of the same title from A Brief Conversion, on which his son Walt Lovelace was the director of photography and editor, and Che was the art director.