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Derek Walcott 1930–, West Indian dramatist and poet, b. Castries, St. Lucia. Walcott is the son of a British father and a West Indian mother. His meticulously honed poems and evocative dramas exalt the English language while also using a rich mix of Latin, French, and patois. He skillfully fuses folk culture with the classical and avant-garde. He writes of his African heritage and addresses personal conflicts, many of which arise from his own mixed-race background, endowing his themes with universal meaning. Often focusing on West Indian folk traditions, Walcott's plays include Dream on Monkey Mountain (1970), The Joker of Seville (1975), Remembrance: Pantomime (1980), A Branch of the Blue Nile (1986), and The Odyssey (1992). His verse collections include the breakthrough In a Green Night (1962) and the autobiographical Another Life (1973) as well as Sea Grapes (1976), Midsummer (1984), Collected Poems 1948–1984 (1986), and The Bounty (1997). His epic poem Omeros (1990) echoes Homer's Iliad and Odyssey as it examines the Caribbean's colonial past and complex present. Walcott, who lives in the United States and Trinidad, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.
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