Anthony Kellman

Who is Anthony Kellman?

Anthony Kellman is a Barbados-born writer and musician. In 1990 the British publishing house Peepal Tree Press published his first full-length book of poetry, Watercourse, which was endorsed by the late Martiniquan poet Edouard Glissant and which launched Kellman’s international writing career. Since 1990, he has published two novels, four CD recordings of original music, and four additional books of poetry, including Limestone: An Epic Poem of Barbados, which covers four centuries of Barbadian life. In 1992 he edited the first full-length U.S. anthology of English-speaking Caribbean poetry, Crossing Water, and in 1993, became the first English-speaking Caribbean writer to win a U.S. National Endowment for the Arts literary award. Kellman is the originator of the Caribbean poetic form "Tuk verse", a poetry form in three patterns or movements derived from melodic and rhythmical patterns of Barbados' indigenous folk music called Tuk.