Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on October 16, 2013.

Jamaica Kincaid, whose work has been called loosely auto-biographical, has said, “Everything I say is true, and everything I say is not true. You couldn’t admit any of it to a court of law. It would not be good evidence.” Her recent novel, See Now Then, chronicles the death of a marriage like a beautiful elegy, where Mr. and Mrs. Sweet’s final years together are anything but. Kincaid immigrated from the West Indies at 17 to New York, where she eventually joined the staff of The New Yorker.

Her books explore themes of colonialism and its legacy, and the complex relationships between mothers and daughters. She is the author of 19 books including the novel The Autobiography of My Mother and the memoir Among Flowers, chronicling her journey deep into the mountains of Nepal.

This event was part of the Lannan Literary series.

In this episode she is introduced by Robert Faggen and then reads from her work. The companion Conversation episode may be found here.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there.