With his dexterity as a writer, Hippolyte speaks through and beyond tradition. He writes in sonnet, triolet, villanelle and echo poem; in idiomatic dramatic monologues that capture the rhythms of Caribbean speech; in blues and rap poems; in free verse that draws upon the long-breath incantatory lines of Ginsberg and contracts in miniaturist forms as concise as graffiti.
While urbanisation expands and fragments his home of St. Lucia, Hippolyte draws upon all his verbal mastery and critical insight to examine a nation in flux. His vision is turned upon the people, the land and the culture, and a microcosm of the Caribbean in the 21st Century emerges. We, the reader, are reminded of the possibilities for renewal in the personal and everyday – away from the glare of the metropolis and the lures of global consumerism.
Born in St. Lucia in 1952, Kendel Hippolyte is a poet, playwright and director. Recently retired from academic work, his present focus is to use his skills as a writer and dramatist to raise public awareness and contribute to active solutions of critical social issues. He has published five books of poetry and has twice won the Minvielle & Chastanet Fine Arts Award for Literature and was awarded the St. Lucia Medal of Merit in 2000.