On this day in 1930 Derek Walcott was born on St. Lucia. Walcott's two-dozen collections of poems and plays -- one recent work, Tiepolo's Hound, widens the range by including his paintings -- earned the 1992 Nobel. The Nobel committee cited the "multicultural commitment" in Walcott's work, and so many followed suit (often adding "post-colonial") that interviewers now get a forewarning: "If anybody uses the word 'multiculturalism' I'm walking out of the room." There is a similar island breeze in Walcott's other interviews: Describe a typical day? "I work very early until noon, then look at nonsense on the TV in my pajamas ... FULL STORY »
