Samuel Selvon
(1923-1994), NovelistSitter in 4 portraits
Trinidadian-born Selvon worked in his native country in the late 1940s as a literary editor at the Sunday Guardian and as a journalist for the Evening News (1945-50). He published several short stories and poems under pseudonyms before moving to London in 1950. Selvon's first novel A Brighter Sun (1952) received international acclaim and established him as an important voice for West Indian literature in London. Selvon's most celebrated novel, The Lonely Londoners (1956) was the first of three London novels narrated in the dialect of his West Indian characters. In the 1970s Selvon held a fellowship in creative writing at Dundee University before moving to Canada.
by Ida Kar
2 1/4 inch square film negative, 1956
NPG x132969
by Ida Kar
vintage bromide print, 1956
NPG x135222
by Ida Kar
vintage bromide print, 1956
NPG x135223
'The Lime' (Samuel Selvon; John La Rose; Andrew Salkey)
by Horace Ové
giclée print, 1974
NPG x126733
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