Collection: Faustin Charles

Faustin Charles was born in Trinidad in 1944 and his passion for writing started when he was still at school. As there are no publishing houses in the Caribbean, he came to the conclusion that he would have to move to Britain or the United States in order to have a career. He has been regularly published since 1969 but has not confined his talents to the written word. He is passionate about the culture, myths and folktales of the whole Caribbean area and has worked tirelessly to promote knowledge, interest and understanding amongst ex-patriots and his adopted countrymen alike. He has been the Community Literacy Officer in Enfield since 1997 and has encouraged many youngsters to realise the richness and pleasure of the written word. He undertakes freelance engagements of storytelling and poetry reading and has enjoyed such diverse appointments as a creative writing fellowship at Warwick University and the writer in residence at Wormwood Scrubs. He is a charismatic and compelling storyteller touring schools and community venues. He has published three collections of poetry and his work is in all the major anthologies of Caribbean verse. He has published two adult novels, Sign Posts of the Jumbie and The Black Magic Man of Brixton. More recently he has built a successful career as a writer for children, publishing both poems and stories with publishing houses such as Longmans, Penguin and Bloomsbury. His The Selfish Crocodile has now sold over 100,000 copies.