Caryl Phillips was born in St Kitts and now lives in London and New York. He has written for television, radio, theatre and cinema and is the author of two works of non-fiction and six novels. Crossing the River was shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize and he has won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the James Tate Black Memorial Prize, as well as being named the Sunday Times Writer of the Year 1992 and one of the Best of Young British Writers 1993.