Conversations with Caryl Phillips

Conversations with Caryl Phillips collects nineteen interviews conducted over more than two decades on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Caribbean. While Phillips (b. 1958) admittedly tends to hide behind his characters in his fiction, he is completely forthcoming in his interviews, where he describes in detail the personal experiences of migration and dislocation that inspired his writing.

He shares ideas about his aesthetics, in particular his noted use of a fractured, polyphonic form. These exchanges demonstrate Phillips’s knowledge about the contemporary world of politics and of writing while revealing his engaging humor, his sharp intelligence, and his deep commitment to the overarching aims of his work.