Author. He was Guyana-born American novelist, playwright, poet and educator, who began his education at Agricola Wesleyan School, followed by the Catholic elementary school and then Berbice High School all in Guyana. In 1938, he passed his Senior Cambridge Examination. In 1939 he became a Berbice High School for Girls teacher before entering the British Army during WWII and serving with the Coast Artillery Regiment until 1943. He then became a customs officer in Georgetown from 1943-1944. It was during this time that he was first published in the Christmas Annual. From 1945-1946 he worked at the Price Controls Office in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. He then went to the United States to study at Howard University and then the Case Western Reserve University until 1948. From 1948-1950 he attended Charles University in Prague and the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1951, he was the editor of De Kim, an international poetry magazine and edited the Kensington Post in 1953 and later worked for the BBC as a writer and broadcaster. He was a race relations lecturer at London University. He privately published his first poetry book "Streets of Eternity" in 1952. In 1958 he had his poetry published as well as his first two novels, "Black Midas" and "The Wild Coast." He had many articles published supporting the Black Movement and was know for his activism with the movement as well as with politics and the environment. We wrote for radio, television and plays as well. His book "The Last Barbarian" was published in 1961. In 1962 he served as the director of culture in British Guiana. His book "Moscow is Not My Mecca" was published in 1964. Also in 1964 he received the Daily Mirror Award for Best Play: "The Big Pride." In February of 1965, he was the first editor of the Magnet News in London and the editor of African Review. In 1969, he published Cotopax literary magazine. In 1974 he was awarded the Illinois Arts Council award for fiction for the short story "Ti-Zek" as well as the American Institute of Graphic Arts Certificate of Excellence for "The Third Gift." In 1977 he was awarded the Casa de las Américas Prize for poetry and in 1979 the Pushcart prize for the essay "The Caribbean writer and exile." His poetry book "Sea Drums in My Blood" was published in 1981. His book "Grenada: The Hour Will Strike Again" was published in 1985. In 1985 he was awarded The Walter Rodney Memorial Award from the Association of Caribbean Studies and the National Film Institute Award for screenplay of "Black Midas." He had two novellas published in 1987: "The Riverman" and "The Sisters." In the 1970-1980s he had numerous young adult and children's books published as well as many non-fiction books. In 1990 he was awarded the The Hansib Publication Award, then in 1991 The Franz Fanon Freedom Award, and in 1998 The Paul Robeson Award for "living a life of art and politics." In later years, he taught at Hampshire College, Illinois Wesleyan, Northwestern, Princeton, Rutgers, and Lincoln Universities. He was an Emeritus Professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University. In 2002 he was awarded the The Clark-Atlanta University Nkyinkyim Award and in 2003 The Caribbean-Canadian Lifetime Creative Award from the Caribbean Canadian Literary Exposition. In 2002, his book "The Sisters and Manco's Stories" was published and in 2007 "The Guyanese Wanderer: Stories" and he was awarded the Independent Publisher Bronze Prize for Multicultural Fiction for it in 2008. In 2014, his memoir "Potaro Dreams: My Youth in Guyana" was published after his death as well as the poetry book "Return to Streets of Eternity."