author
Eric Walrond
1898–1966
A vivid Harlem Renaissance writer and journalist, he brought Caribbean lives, voices, and rhythms into modern literature with unusual energy. Best known for Tropic Death, his work drew on a life lived across British Guiana, Barbados, Panama, New York, and England.
1 Audiobook
Tropic death
by Eric Walrond
About the author
Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, in 1898, he was the son of a Guyanese father and a Barbadian mother. His early years took him through Barbados and Panama before he eventually reached New York, and that transatlantic background shaped the language, settings, and perspective of his writing.
He became part of the Harlem Renaissance as both a writer and a journalist. His 1926 story collection Tropic Death is the book most often associated with his name, and it is remembered for its strong sense of place and for bringing Caribbean speech and experience into fiction in a fresh, forceful way.
Later in life he lived in England, where he died in London in 1966. Though he was sometimes less widely known than some of his contemporaries, his work remains important for readers interested in Harlem Renaissance writing, Caribbean literature, and the broader Black Atlantic world.