Literary Sphere

Fred D'Aguiar: Feeding the Ghosts About the Author Fred D’Aguiar, a British-Guyanese poet, novelist, and playwright, was born in London in 1960 and spent part of his early childhood in Guyana before returning to the UK at the age of 12. D'Aguiar is known for his powerful works that explore colonial history, diaspora, trauma, and memory. His writings often fuse lyrical prose with the traumatic remnants of the past, especially the transatlantic slave trade. His mixed heritage and lived experience in both the Caribbean and Britain inform his nuanced understanding of race, identity, and postcolonial realities. He has taught creative writing at various universities, including Virginia Tech and UCLA. Feeding the Ghosts (1997) is one of D’Aguiar’s most celebrated novels. Inspired by the true story of the Zong massacre of 1781, it revisits the horror of 132 enslaved Africans thrown overboard from a British slave ship to claim insurance. The book combines history and...