The Art Of Kamau Brathwaite is the first full lenght study of Brathwait's work and thinking. It addresses his poetry and other written work and explores the three inter-connected concerns which have shaped his consciousness: Africa, jazz and the use of West Indian language in poetry. The essayists are all specialists from both the Caribbean and Britain and north America, and Brathwaite himself provides both an interview and a major work in his 'Metaphors of Underdevelopment: a Poem for Hernan Cortez'. ABOUT THE AUTHOR George Lamming was born on June 8, 1927, in Carrington Village, Barbados. He was Educated at Roebuck Boys School and the prestigious Combemere High School. He received early encouragement from Frank Collymore, his teacher and mentor, and editor of the literary journal, BIM. Lamming left Barbados for Trinidad in 1946, and went to England in 150. He made his home in London for some twenty-five years. During this time he published some six novels and a highly influential collection of essays, The pleasure of Exile (1960). Lamming now makes his home in Barbados where he remains activly involved in the cultural life of the Caribbean.