Jane Bryce
Born1951 (age 72–73)
Lindi, Tanzania
CitizenshipBritish[1]
Alma materObafemi Awolowo University
Occupation(s)Writer, journalist, literary critic and academic
PartnerPhilip Nanton[2]

Jane Bryce (born 1951) is a British writer, journalist, literary and cultural critic, as well as an academic. She was born and raised in Tanzania, has lived in Italy, the UK and Nigeria, and since 1992 has been based in Barbados.[1] Her writing for a wide range of publications has focused on contemporary African and Caribbean fiction, postcolonial cinema and creative writing, and she is Professor Emerita of African Literature and Cinema at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.[3]

She edited the anthology Caribbean Dispatches: Inside Stories of the Caribbean (2006), and is the author of a 2007 collection of short fiction, entitled Chameleon.

Background

Early years

Jane Bryce was born in 1951 in Lindi, Tanzania, and grew up in Moshi,[4] until the age of 13, when she was sent to school in England.[1] As she said in an interview in African Writing, "I have a British passport, because when I was born in Tanzania, it was a British protectorate. We were given the choice of citizenship at 'Uhuru' [independence] and my father opted for British. As he was deported under the Africanization policy, perhaps it's as well, but then again, if we'd been Tanzanian citizens we wouldn't have been deported."[1]

Further education and career

In the 1980s, Bryce worked as a freelance journalist both in London and while studying for a PhD in Nigeria, where she did doctoral research on Nigerian women's writing at Obafemi Awolowo University, from 1983 to 1988, earning a PhD.[1]

In 1992, she moved to Barbados, becoming an active member of the Caribbean literary community. She taught African literature and cinema, in addition to creative writing, at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, and was editor of Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing (first published in 1999) for 20 years, since its founding,[5][6][7] and a noted contributor of poetry to the journal.[8]

She also founded the Barbados Festival of African and Caribbean Film,[1] of which she was a director from 2002 to 2007, and she was Barbados curator of the Africa World Documentary Film Festival (2009–2016).[3]

She has contributed over the years to a wide range of academic journals and essay collections.[9] She compiled the anthology Caribbean Dispatches: Beyond the Tourist Dream (Macmillan UK, 2006), and is the author of the 2007 collection Chameleon and Other Stories (Peepal Tree Press).[10] She has also written memoir, recently completing Zamani: a Haunted Memoir of Tanzania.[11][6]

Bryce has served as a judge for literary awards both locally and regionally, including the Guyana Prize for Literature[12] and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.[13]

In 2017, she was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study at Indiana University.[14][15]

In 2022, she guest-edited an edition of the online magazine WritersMosaic (an initiative of the Royal Literary Fund) entitled "Is english we speaking: African/Caribbean dialogue", contributors to which included Billy Kahora, Colin Grant, Stewart Brown, Funso Aiyejina, Philip Nanton, Tendai Huchu, Claire Adam and Robert Taylor.[16]

Bibliography

  • Caribbean Dispatches: Beyond the Tourist Dream, editor (Macmillan Caribbean, 2006, ISBN 978-1405071369)
  • Chameleon and Other Stories (Peepal Tree Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1845230418)

Selected articles and book chapters

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ede, Amatoritsero. "Jane Bryce interview | The Face of Africa in the Caribbean". African Writing Online (7). ISSN 1754-6672. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  2. ↑ Nanton, Philip (30 January 2017). "Acknowledgements". Frontiers of the Caribbean. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526114921.
  3. 1 2 "Jane Bryce". Bocas Lit Fest. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "Contributors". Tanzanian Affairs. Britain-Tanzania Society (85). Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "'A Towering Figure': Tribute to Kamau Brathwaite (1930-2020)". Wasafiri. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Jane Bryce". Writers Mosaic. Royal Literary Fund. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  7. ↑ "POUi: Editorial Committee". Department of Language, Linguistics and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Education. Cave Hill, Barbados: The University of the West Indies. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Creighton, Al (19 October 2008). "Arts On Sunday". Stabroek News.
  9. ↑ "Jane Bryce | Writer and Professor". Bim Literary Festival & Book Fair. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  10. ↑ Chameleon and Other Stories. Peepal Tree Press. 2007. ISBN 9781845230418.
  11. ↑ "Bits and Pieces I Picked up and Pocketed (Extract)". Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing (10): 25–31. December 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "Guyana Prize for Literature winners announced". Demerara Waves. 26 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  13. ↑ Swamber, Keino (5 May 2019). "TT's Kevin Adonis Browne wins OCM Bocas Prize". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  14. ↑ Adesokan, Akin. "Visiting Fellow: Jane Bryce". Indiana University Bloomington. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  15. ↑ "2017 In Review | Visiting Fellows". Indiana University Bloomington. 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  16. ↑ "Is english we speaking: African/Caribbean dialogue". Writers Mosaic. 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  17. ↑ Bryce, Jane (2022). "'Animal can't dash me human rights'". Index on Censorship. 51 (1): 76–78. doi:10.1177/03064220221084534. S2CID 247631340. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  18. ↑ "Peter Abrahams: The View From Coyaba". Caribbean Bean. No. 61. May–June 2003. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  19. ↑ Bryce, Jane (May 2005). "Unterrified consciousness". Caribbean Review of Books. Retrieved 11 December 2022 – via Caribbean Beat.
  20. ↑ Bryce, Jane (2010). "Riffing on Omeros: The Relevance of Isaac Julien to Cultural Politics in the Caribbean". Small Axe. Duke University Press. 14 (32). Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  21. ↑ Bryce, Jane. "Snapshots taken along the way". Writers Mosaic. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
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