Caribbean Literary Giants final homecoming
Dr Elizabeth Nunez, the celebrated Trinidad-born author, professor, and literary advocate, passed away on November 8 at age 79, following a stroke. Known for her fierce dedication to truth and justice, Nunez’s work created an enduring legacy that extended beyond her own writing to the nurturing of countless voices in Caribbean and diaspora literature. Tributes have poured in from across the world, each honouring a writer beloved for her incisive storytelling and her advocacy for voices often silenced.
Elizabeth Nunez was born in Trinidad in 1944, a homeland that remained vivid in her writing even after she left for the United States at 19. Her early years were marked by a colonial education and close family bonds, which shaped her understanding of identity and history’s weight. She approached her studies with intensity, earning a BA in English from Marian College in Wisconsin and a master’s and PhD in literature from New York University. In New York, Nunez became a professor of English and creative writing at Hunter College, where she taught for over two decades. Her mentorship was instrumental for many Black writers and writers of colour, whose voices she saw as essential to a richer literary landscape.
In 1986, she co founded the National Black Writers Conference, creating a space where Black writers could share their work and perspectives within a publishing industry that had long sidelined them. This platform reflected her commitment to nurturing diverse voices and stories—a commitment she upheld throughout her life. Nunez’s legacy also lives on throughthe Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival, which named two awards in her honour: the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean and the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers Prize. These awards celebrate emerging talent and continue her mission of “enhancing the visibility of Caribbean and diaspora authors” (BCLF, 2023). Her advocacy earned her respect throughout the literary community, and emerging writers often cited her as a mentor and a steady source of inspiration. With eleven novels, Nunez firmly established herself in Caribbean literature, weaving themes of race, exile, and the weight of colonial history on contemporary life. Her award-winning novel Bruised Hibiscus (1994) vividly captures the nuances of female friendship shaped by the legacies of silence and pain. Set in Trinidad, it follows Rosa and Zuela—two women bound by secrets who struggle to free themselves from colonial restraints.
As The New York Times once noted, Bruised Hibiscus “delves into the psychic scars of colonialism with an intensity that illuminates the silences and wounds of a community” (New York Times, 1994). In Prospero’s Daughter (2006), Nunez reimagines The Tempest through a Caribbean lens, challenging assumptions about power and identity in her story of Peter Gardner, an English doctor who exploits Trinidad’s indigenous people as subjects for his unethical medical experiments. Gardner’s contempt for the locals—whom he deems “savages”—includes a young boy, Carlos, whom he both educates and despises. In a moment of self-reflection, Gardner admits, “I am not a man who iseasily moved to pity, but I felt a pang of sorrow for this boy. He was, after all, a child of the island, born to its rhythms and its silences, and I had uprooted him, transplanted him into a world where he did not belong.” This passage captures Nunez’s unflinching look at colonialism’s quiet violence, making Prospero’s Daughter an exploration of betrayal and fractured identity across generations.
For Elizabeth Nunez, the personal was always political. In Anna In Between, she writes, “Racism is a poison so insidious it finds its way through the tiniest slit in the soul and does its damage there even before one is aware.” Her work captures the corrosive effects of racial injustice, a theme she describes in interviews, including with Essence, where she called her writing a “form of resistance” against social and historical injustices (Essence, “Elizabeth Nunez: Her Literary Legacy”). The New York Times also remarked on her focus on the “psychic scars of colonialism,” noting how she addresses oppression in a direct but nuanced way, allowing readers to feel history’s weight in her characters’ lives.
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) Literary Arts Festival described her as “an unparalleled voice of Caribbean literature whose legacy was woven into the hearts of readers and writers around the world” (Newsday, 2023). Their tribute featured the short film Five Minutes with Elizabeth Nunez, created with the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival, in which Nunez shares insights on her novels, her commitment to identity, and the power of truth. “Her life was a gift, her words a force,” the BVI Literary Arts Festival stated, “a guiding light for all who seek to tell stories with truth and courage.” Now Lila Knows (2022), her most recent novel, captures social justice issues, portraying a protagonist grappling with identity and survival in an often hostile world. Her characters frequently resist easy solutions, and readers are left to navigate the harsh realities they face—layered narratives of life in diaspora and memory.
Essence described Nunez’s novels as “about the transformative power of love,” as she crafted characters who carried histories they didn’t choose but confronted with strength and dignity. Her passing has left a palpable silence among all who knew her work. Her family shared that her ashes would be returned to Trinidad to be buried with her parents in Lapeyrouse Cemetery. Her sisters, Jacqueline Astaphan and Mary Nunez, explained that this final homecoming honours Nunez’s lifelong connection to her homeland. Trinidad was where she began, and it is where she will rest. As Island Girls Rock stated: “Nunez’s journey from Trinidad to New York at the end of her high school years, her celebrated career as a professor at Hunter College, and her profound storytelling have left an indelible mark on Caribbean literature and beyond.” Elizabeth Nunez’s body of work—full of rhythm, memory, and resilience —remains a testament to her life, inspiring generations of readers and writers.
Ira Mathur is a Guardian journalist and the winner of the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize for Non- Fiction for her memoir, Love The Dark Days. Author inquiries: irasroom@gmail.com Website: www.irasroom.org.