Dr Monique Roffey

Monique Roffey author shot

Dr Monique Roffey FRSL

Professor

My profile

Biography

Monique Roffey joined Manchester Metropolitan University as Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction) in 2016.

I was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and have life-long and ongoing links to Trinidad and the Caribbean region. I come and go a lot and I teach creative writing in Port of Spain as well as the UK. Four of my six novels, The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, Archipelago, House of Ashes and The Mermaid of Black Conch are set in the region. In these books I have drawn on family biography, history, academic research, witness testimony and contemporary life. Most of these books contain an element of what Cuban writer, Alejo Carpentier called lo real maravilloso, or the marvellous real. In short, I am a writer, born in the Caribbean, living half there and half in diaspora, and something of a magical realist. Until now, I have written close to home, the place of my birth. 

My memoir, With the Kisses of his Mouth ( 2011) and a new novel The Tryst (July, 2017) are linked and form a smaller, but equally committed, body of work which examines female sexuality. This enquiry is ongoing. 

I also write essays and journalism, 

Words of wisdom

Do the best you can.

Tackle difficult subjects, with great care.

Oh, and slow down.

Academic and professional qualifications

MA, Creative Writing, Lancaster University

PhD, Creative Writing, Lancaster University

Government and industry links

Costa Book of the Year, 2020 - The Mermaid of Black Conch.

The Rathbones/Folio Award, 2020 - shortlisted, The Mermaid Of Black Conch

The Goldsmiths Prize, 2020 - shortlisted, The Mermaid Of Black Conch

The Costa Fiction Award, 2014 - shortlisted, House of Ashes

The OCM BOCAS Fiction Award, 2014 - shortlisted, House of Ashes

The OCM BOCAS Award for Caribbean Literature, 2013 - overall winner - Archipelago

The Orion Award, 2014 - shortlisted - Archipelago

The Encore Award, 2011 - shortlisted - The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

The Orange Prize, 2010 - shortlisted - The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

Other distinctions

Fellow, Royal Society of Literature

Fellow, Folio Academy

Co-Founder, Writers Rebel

Personal website address

http://moniqueroffey.com/

Get in touch

0161 247 1751
5.03 Grosvenor East Building

Teaching

Why do I teach?

I think it’s vital that emerging writers spend a period of time as an apprentice, learning their craft. Ideally, this is within a safe peer group, one facilitated by an experienced and working writer. It’s an exciting time to be in that zone, when a new writer is growing and learning and she or he is within touching distance of publication. It’s an honour to be entrusted with the job of guiding new writers. 

How I’ll teach you

I teach the creative workshop on the Novel MA/MFA at MMU. I also teach Reading Novels 1. My creative writing workshop classes are designed to cultivate an awareness of how fiction works on the page. Students’ work will be critically examined every week, by the class, and by me. I also provide some taught sessions on various aspects of craft, for example: dramatisation, characterisation and how to capture a first draft. 

Research outputs

My research has been mostly based in the Caribbean region over the last fifteen years. I am interested in outsiders, otherness and exile. My novels have examined whiteness and the white colonial in the post independence era (The White Woman on the Green Bicycle), the changing environment in the Caribbean (Archipelago), and an historic coup d’etat in Trinidad (House of Ashes). The Mermaid of Black Conch is a feminist rewriting of an old Caribbean myth; it examines female jealousy and interracial love.

I am also interested in female sexuality and desire. Two of my books, The Tryst and With the Kisses of his Mouth, have tracked my personal enquiry for better sex and my journey away from the heteronormative mainstream.  

Works:

The Mermaid of Black Conch (2019)

The Tryst (2017)

House of Ashes (2014)

Archipelago (2012)

With the Kisses of his Mouth (2011)

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle (2009)

Sun Dog (2002)