The Campus Read is an opportunity for Saint Louis University students, faculty and staff to read a specific work by the incoming St. Louis Literary Award recipient and take part in related activities connected to the book and author.
The Antigua-born Jamaica Kincaid explores themes of colonialism, gender and sexuality, racism, class, and familial relationships in her work. She came to the United States as a teenager and, as a young woman, began writing columns and stories for Ingénue, The Village Voice and Ms. Her work has also appeared in The Paris Review and The New Yorker. Kincaid published her first book in 1983, “At the Bottom of the River, " a collection of short stories and reflections. She is the author of the novels “Annie John,” “Lucy,” and “See Now Then,” and the more personal books.“ The Autobiography of My Mother,""Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya,” and “My Brother,” which explores the death from AIDS of her younger brother. She has been nominated for the National Book Award and received a Guggenheim grant. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. Kincaid is a professor in the African and African American Studies department as well as the Department of English at Harvard University.
2023 Campus Read
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
The essential coming-of-age novel by Jamaica Kincaid, "Annie John" is a haunting and provocative story of a young girl growing up on the island of Antigua. Kincaid's novel focuses on a universal, tragic, and often comic theme: the loss of childhood. Annie's voice ― urgent, demanding to be heard ― is one that readers will not soon forget.
A Small Place
A brilliant look at colonialism and its effects in Antigua, the 10-by-12-mile island that cannot help but amplify our vision of one small place and all that it signifies and stands for.
Students and faculty from Saint Louis University are welcome to pick up their free copies of both "Annie John" and "A Small Place" from the circulation desk of Pius XII Memorial Library, Medical Center Library, Vincent C. Immel Law Library or the Madrid Campus library.