David Dabydeen is a novelist, poet and academic from Guyana whose oeuvre has made an incisive, transformative contribution to our understanding of Britain’s historic black presence, indentureship, and the colonial ties between Britain, India and the Caribbean. Born in Berbice, Guyana, Dabydeen moved to England as a child in 1969 and read English at Cambridge University. His poetry won him the Quiller-Couch prize in 1978 - these poems would later appear in his first first book, Slave Song (1984): a collection of poetry written in Guyanese Creole and populated by the voices of enslaved African and indentured Indian labourers. It won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and was followed by several more collections which expounded on this exploration of indenture, eighteenth century Britain and Guyana, and the contemporary implications of slavery and indentureship. Dabydeen is also the author of seven novels and several major critical works, including The Black Presence in English Literature (1985) and Black Writers in Britain 1760-1890 (1991). His literary writing combines his academic rigour with an astute, artistic flair that characterises each of his works. He was the Director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies and Professor at the Centre for British Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick, and in 2007 he was awarded the Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award for his outstanding contribution to literature and the intellectual life of the Indian diaspora.
