Today, the brilliant writer Jamaica Kincaid turns 68.
Kincaid, I shouldn't have to tell you, is an Antiguan-American writer known primarily for her novels and her nonfiction (much of the latter about gardening), whose short story "Girl" has been widely anthologized and taught in countless writing classrooms (including several of my own, both as student and instructor). She has always struck me as a fearless, clear-eyed writer, with a pure approach to her craft and an irreverent, passionate take on life. Obviously, we should all be more like her. To mark Kincaid's birthday-though honestly, this is a gift to all of us, not to her-I've collected some of her words of wisdom on how to live well and how best to go about the strange business of being a writer.
