Jacob Ross was born in Grenada and studied at the University of Grenoble, France. He has been residing in
Britain since 1984. He is a poet, playwright, journalist, novelist and creative writing tutor. He was formerly an Editor of Artrage Intercultural Arts
magazine, Britain's leading Intercultural Arts magazine. Ross' first collection of short stories
Song for Simone was published in 1986 and was described as 'The most powerful crystallisation of Caribbean
childhood since… George Lamming's In the Castle of My Skin.' Song for Simone,
is taught in schools in England and abroad and has been translated into several languages. He currently works as a freelance lecturer in creative writing, poetry and international literature in England and abroad. Ross also teaches at Goldsmiths University of London.
Ross' much-awaited second book of short stories has been greeted with critical acclaim internationally. Hailed as 'a work of formidable technical range and emotional
depth',
A Way to Catch the Dust is about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary moments: a man seeks atonement
for a terrible crime through an amazing sea journey; a girl learns the nature of friendship and betrayal as she survives the plot of a foreigner who decides to drown her, an old woman reclaims
her bit of the sky in the face of a simple surprising act of revenge; an old man confronts history in the shape of a girl who emerges from a storm. A postmistress whose unusual interests in the
letters she handles give her more than an intimate knowledge of the goings-on in her community and leads her to the resolution of a crime. Sometimes funny, sometimes lyrical and moving Ross
shifts voices, pace and style with ease of a master storyteller. Jacob Ross has toured and lectured: University of Vienna, Austria; National Association for Teachers of English;
The Arvon Foundation; University of Dakar (Senegal) Saks Media, The Gambia (West Africa); Birkenhead Education Authority (UK), Centerprise Literature Development Project. In 2000 he was
specially commissioned by the Peabody Trust to run the Millennium Writers Master class and in November became writer in residence for the London Borough of Streatham's Community Zone Literature
Development Initiative. In October 2000 Ross toured his latest book in the Middle East. Ross Co-authored, Behind the Masquerade, the Story of Nottinghill Carnival with Kwesi
Owusu, 1986. Co-edited the anthology: Voice, Memory Ashes with Dr. Joan Anim-Addo, 1998 and has contributed extensively to anthologies. His work has been consistently
ranked with leading contemporary practitioners of the craft. In October this year Ross was described by the Jordanian Times as 'one of the most exciting writers to have toured this country for
a very long time.' |
