Michael Gilkes (writer)
Michael Gilkes | |
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Born | Michael Arthur Gilkes 5 November 1933 Guyana Prize for Literature |
Michael Arthur Gilkes (5 November 1933 – 14 April 2020)
Biography
Gilkes was born in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana).[1] His involvement with theatre began in his native Guyana when he was about 12 years old, working in school theatre, and he went on to become involved with the Theatre Guild of Guyana.[7]
Gilkes taught at a number of universities in the Caribbean, Canada and the United Kingdom over the past 40 years, including at the
His work includes Couvade: A Dream-play of Guyana (published 1974), Wilson Harris and the Caribbean Novel (1975), and The Literate Imagination: Essays on the Novels of Wilson Harris (1989). An unfinished project that Gilkes was working on was the film Maira and the Jaguar People, set in the Rupununi in 2016,[2][10] with a cast mainly featuring the indigenous Makushi population of Surama.[11]
His play Couvade was first performed in 1972 at the first
Gilkes died in London on 14 April 2020, aged 86, after contracting COVID-19.[16]
Awards
His play A Pleasant Career, about the life and fiction of
Selected bibliography
- Couvade: a dream-play of Guyana, Longman Caribbean, 1974
- Wilson Harris and the Caribbean Novel, Longman Caribbean, 1975
- Racial Identity and Individual Consciousness in the Caribbean Novel, 1975. (Edgar Mittelholzer memorial lectures)
- The West Indian Novel, Twayne, 1981
- Creative Schizophrenia: The Caribbean Cultural Challenge, Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick, 1987
- The Literate Imagination: Essays on the Novels of Wilson Harris, Macmillan Education, 1989, ISBN 978-0333495186
- Joanstown and Other Poems, ISBN 978-1900715768
- Two Plays: Couvade & A Pleasant Career (Caribbean Modern Classics), Peepal Tree Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1845231897
- Heart / Land: Poems on Love & Landscape, 2015, ISBN 978-1504947817
References
- ^ a b "Obituary – Michael Gilkes", Stabroek News, 19 April 2020. (Compiled by Al Creighton, Vanda Radzik, Marina Taitt and Jocelyn Dow.)
- ^ a b "Guyanese playwright Michael Gilkes dies from COVID-19 complications", Guyana Chronicle, 15 April 2020.
- ^ a b c "Michael Gilkes". The West Indian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ "Bermuda to take on Derek Walcott's play `Remembrance'", The Royal Gazette, 29 October 1998.
- ^ "Walcott's `Remembrance' is a must-see!", The Royal Gazette, 7 November 1998.
- ^ "Michael Gilkes interviews Sir Wilson Harris", Kaieteur News, 11 July 2010.
- ^ a b Jessie Moniz, "'We unblock people'", The Royal Gazette, 9 March 2010.
- ^ Kim Dismont, "Playwright explores Caribbean heritage in `Remembrance'", The Royal Gazette, 13 October 1998.
- ^ a b c "Michael Gilkes". Peepal Tree Press. January 1933. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- ^ Crystal Stoll, "Local playwright puts the spotlight on Surama", Guyana Chronicle, 22 November 2016.
- ^ "Guyanese Writer Michael Gilkes dead at 86", Stabroek News, 15 April 2020.
- Olu Obafemi (eds), The Cambridge Guide to African and Caribbean Theatre, Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 188.
- ^ "Amerindian Month 2012 – “COUVADE” by Michael Gilkes", Guyanese Online.
- ^ Poster for Couvade, Victoria and Albert Museum Collections.
- ^ ARTS AND AFRICA No.243, BBC African Service.
- ^ Denis Chabrol, "COVID-19 kills Guyanese literary icons in US, Britain", Demerara Waves, 14 April 2020.
- ^ Rebecca Moore, "Joanstown: A Different Look at Guyana", Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple, the jonestown report, Volume 19, November 2017.
- ^ Frank Birbalsingh, "Superb stagecraft, wit and vitality in Gilkes’ ‘Red Men’"[permanent dead link], Arts & Entertainment, IndoCaribbean World, 5 September 2007.
External links
- Ameena Gafoor, "Michael Gilkes discusses the role of the arts in personal and social development", The Arts Forum, Kaieteur News Online, 15 November 2009.
- "DRAMATIST MICHAEL GILKES Guyanese play REDMEN" on YouTube. "THE LAST OF THE REDMEN is a one-man tour-de-force theatre event about the plus and minus of the colonial experience in Guyana - the 'middle man' experience of growing up in the 40s and 50s. Michael plays everybody."
- Kim Lucas, "Dr Michael Gilkes – self-professed Mudhead", Stabroek News, 1 February 2003.
- "The autobiography of William Alfred Gilkes".
- "Interview with Michael Gilkes", Repeating Islands, 15 March 2010.