C.L.R. James – Writer
CLR (Cyril Lionel RobertJames was a Marxist writer, political commentator, and Cricket lover.
One of his most famous works is “The Black Jacobins”,; a biography of Toussaint Louverture, the Haitian Revolutionary.
Born in Trinidad, he attended the Queen’s Royal College on the island before becoming a cricket journalist and also writing fiction. In 1932, he moved to Nelson in Lancashire, England, in the hope of furthering his literary career. There, he worked for the Manchester Guardian and helped the cricketer Learie Constantine write his autobiography.
Related Links:
CLR James Internet Archive
C.L.R. James is a exciting, brave and intelligent writer who always makes me proud to be half-Trinidadian. People often forget about his literary career but I would really recommend reading his early novel ‘Minty Alley’ alongside his political works. So funny and engaging and real, and provides a great insight into his arrival at his political thought.