Wilson Harris

Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (born 24 March 1921) is a Guyanese writer. He initially wrote poetry, but has since become a well-known novelist and essayist. His writing style is often said to be abstract and densely metaphorical, and his subject matter wide-ranging. Harris is considered one of the most original and innovative voices in postwar literature in English.

Biography

Wilson Harris was born in New Amsterdam in what was then called British Guiana. After studying at Queen's College in the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, he became a government surveyor, before taking up a career as lecturer and writer. The knowledge of the savannas and rain forests he gained during his time as a surveyor formed the setting for many of his books, with the Guyanese landscape dominating his fiction.

Between 1945 and 1961, Harris was a regular contributor of stories, poems and essays to Kyk-over-Al literary magazine and was part of a group of Guyanese intellectuals that included Martin Carter and Ivan Van Sertima.

Wilson Harris (journalist)

Henry Wilson Harris (1883–1955) was editor of The Spectator from 1932–53, and independent MP for Cambridge University from 1945-50. He was in the last group of University MPs; these seats were abolished in 1950.

As an educationalist, H. Wilson Harris appeared in and narrated Children at School (1937), a Basil Wright documentary, with an uncredited script by journalist (subsequently a Labour MP) Tom Driberg.

Before joining The Spectator Harris was a supporter of the League of Nations in the UK, writing several pamphlets and books and editing the League of Nations Union's journal Headway. Some of his articles for the Spectator were collected in a 1943 volume called 99 Gower Street, after the address of the paper's editorial offices.

Notes

References