News Releases

UWI Remembers V.S. Naipaul

For Release Upon Receipt - August 14, 2018

St. Augustine


In 2007, in his 75th year, the St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies embarked on a year-long celebration of Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul.

During that period, the University recognised his immense contribution to Caribbean literature and letters and engaged the wider public in scholarly debate and discourse.  In April of that year, the Nobel Laureate also made a one-week visit to the Campus and, among other activities, did a reading of his works and participated in a book-signing.

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Brian Copeland considered his visit as one of the highlights in the St. Augustine Campus’ 58 year history. “As we mourn the passing of a great literary icon”, Copeland conceded that “our Campus Community takes comfort in the opportunity we had to interact with and celebrate Sir V.S. Naipaul right here on his home soil. Filled with the creativity that is innately ours, Sir V.S. Naipaul was undoubtedly one of Trinidad and Tobago’s gifts to the world.”

Sir V.S. Naipaul received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 and won numerous other literary awards, including the Booker Prize (1971), the Jerusalem Prize (1983), and the David Cohen British Literature Prize by the Arts Council of England (1993). Educated at Queen’s Royal College in Trinidad and Tobago and at University College, Oxford in England, among his notable works were A House for Mr Biswas (1961), A Bend in the River (1979) and Among the Believers (1981).

The UWI St. Augustine commemorates Sir V.S. Naipaul’s life with an exhibition in his honour. It is expected to open on August 16 at the Alma Jordan Library.

 

End

 

Photo Caption

Sir VS Naipaul reads from one of his works during a visit to The UWI’s St. Augustine Campus in 2007.

 

About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. The UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

Contact