Monique Roffey
Monique Roffey
Monique Roffeyis an award-winning Trinidadian-born British writer and memoirist...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
observant wild
I was an observant but dreamy child. I had a lazy eye and wild curls.
hard idealism love realism replaced romantic work youth
The romantic idealism of my youth has been replaced with realism and hard work at what I love.
affinity born caribbean great natural pools sink swim swimmer swimming thrown warm
Born on an island, I could swim before I could walk, thrown many times into swimming pools and warm transparent Caribbean waters: sink or swim, that was my first lesson. While I'm not a natural athlete, I'm still a strong swimmer and feel a great affinity with the sea.
age cancer died
At the age of 62, my father died of cancer - it was much too soon. My mother never remarried or got over it, never even thought of another man.
common fusion local people sound suck teeth
Trinidad's language is a fusion of English, African, and French, and so we have our own words and even our own dictionary. Steupse is a common local word, and it's the onomatopoeic word for the sound people make to show disapproval, or to show they are vexed, when they suck their teeth together.
forms full hear love lyrical people playful poetic speaking verbal
Trinidadians love speaking their own English; it's full of poetic forms and can be playful and lyrical and comical. Trinidadians are verbal acrobats, and I love being on the island just to hear the people speak.
eve party time
New Year's Eve is not about having a big party for me. It's a time of reflection, and I often go on spiritual retreats.
british cannot cricket cup either english entirely hard home label language supported west
While I am most at home in London, I cannot really label myself as either British or Trinidadian. I write in the English language and live in the U.K. I find it hard to say that I am an entirely British writer, especially when I supported Trinidad in the 2006 World Cup and also support the West Indies cricket team.
dalai destroyed imperative love
The person I love most is the Dalai Lama. China destroyed his country, yet he says that it's imperative we show love for the Chinese.
dynamism exciting knew love
What I always knew about my parents was that they were in love, and this love had a fizz. It was exciting to be their child, to be around them. There was a dynamism between them, a charge.
books explore figure good means
All my books explore fatherhood. I look at what it means to have a big father figure at the centre: sometimes they're a good father, sometimes bad.
era failure green independence love mapped onto political unfolding white
'The White Woman on the Green Bicycle' is a love story mapped onto an unfolding political tragedy: that of the failure of the Independence era in Trinidad.
curse drive forgetting might monologue muse people worst
I talk to myself. It's my worst habit. I often muse aloud, or, when people drive me crazy, I curse them aloud. I might do a ranting monologue about how pissed off I am about them, occasionally forgetting that they might still be in the room; now, that's weird!
bit marriage
My parents had a long and eventful marriage and were always a bit like movie stars to me when they were young.