Marlene N Philip- A Brief Bio

Marlene Naubese Philip (born on February 3, 1947) is a Canadian poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and short-story writer. She was brought up in Trinidad- Tobago. She took a degree in Economics at the University of the West Indies and went on to study Political science and Law at the University of Western Ontario. She is known for her experimentation with literary forms and for her commitment to social justice. All her words are anti-racist just like her. Her early books of poetry are Thrones (1980) and Salmon courage (1983).

Philip being a Black poet expressed her inner self in a language imposed on her by the white colonizers, which she says as ‘Father Tongue’. Caribbean society lacked autonomy in the creation and dissemination of images with the demotic language. The demotic language voice denied the power to express the image. Thus, the only language available for the expression of ideas in Standard English. Her work explores the conundrum of language in a post-colonial context, the erasures of history, and the experience of exile and uprooting.