Literary icon Edward Kamau Brathwaite has passed away.

Born in Barbados in 1930 as Lawson Edward Brathwaite, he also published as Edward Brathwaite and Edward Kamau Brathwaite and earned renown as an author whose works are noted for their rich and complex examination of the African and indigenous roots of Caribbean culture.

The poet and scholar was educated at Harrison College in Barbados and Pembroke College in Cambridge. He earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Sussex.

Co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement,  he was the author of numerous collections of poetry, He is also the author of Our Ancestral Heritage: A Bibliography of the Roots of Culture in the English-speaking Caribbean and Barbados Poetry: A Checklist: Slavery to the Present .

His honors include the Casa de las Americas Prize for Literary Criticism, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Bussa Award, and the Charity Randall Prize for Performance and Written Poetry, as well as fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

He has worked in Ghana’s Ministry of Education,  has also taught at Harvard University, the University of the West Indies, and New York University.

Chief Executive Office of the National Cultural Foundation Carol Roberts-Reifer paid tribute.

Reacting to the news, President of the Barbados Arts Council, Neville Legal said this country has loss a famous son of the soil and an outstanding Barbadian.

He tells Starcom Network News, Kamau’s works which will live on, are testimony to his life and contribution, not only to Barbados but to the world of literature internationally.