Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Elizabeth Nunez
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Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Elizabeth Nunez *
“I don’t mind being classified as a Caribbean writer, as long as it’s a subcategory in literary fiction.”
Born in 1944 in Cocorite, Trinidad, Dr. Elizabeth Nunez was raised in a family of eleven children. She immigrated to the United States at the age of nineteen, after finishing high school, then earned an undergraduate degree from Marian College in 1967.
She subsequently entered New York University, earning a master's degree in 1971 and a Ph.D. in 1977, both in English. She became affiliated with the City University of New York (CUNY) in 1972, where she has been credited with creating and initiating a variety of academic programs, and where she holds the position of Distinguished Professor of English at Medgar Evers College.
In addition to her teaching duties, she has also served as executive producer for the CUNY television series Black Writers in America. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Sojourner Truth Award from the National Association of Black Business and Professional Women's Clubs, the 1999 Carter G. Woodson Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, and the 2003 Caribbean American Heritage Award. She has also received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Marian College for her contributions to the arts and education.
Dr. Nunez was the award-winning author of one memoir and twelve novels, four of them selected as New York Times Editors’ Choices.
Anna In-Between won the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award and was long-listed for an IMPAC Dublin International Literary Award. Nunez also received the 2015 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in nonfiction for Not For Everyday Use; an American Book Award for Bruised Hibiscus; and a NALIS Lifetime Literary Award from the Trinidad and Tobago National Library.
Her other novels are: Even In Paradise, Boundaries, Prospero’s Daughter, Beyond The Limbo Silence, Grace, Discretion, and When Rocks Dance.
Nunez was a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, where she teaches courses on fiction writing and Caribbean women writers.
Now Lila Knows is her latest novel.
Elizabeth’s Books
Now Lila Knows (2022)
Even in Paradise (2016)
Memoir Not for Everyday Use (2014)
Boundaries (2011)
Anna In-Between (2010)
Prospero’s Daughter (2006)
Grace (2003)
Discretion (2002)
Bruised Hibiscus (2000)
Beyond the Limbo Silence (1998)
When Rocks Dance (1986)
Elizabeth’s in The Press
Her Legacy and Impact
Elizabeth Nunez was our chief adviser, confidante, patron and friend. She was the epitome of Caribbean-American excellence and the living embodiment of the BCLF vision. She was as generous as she was kind, as wise as she was faithful. The alignment of her name with our writing contest and festival was a decision to ensure that her contributions to the literary canon lived on in perpetuity and conferred to writers who won the prizes associated with her name a legacy of high distinction and greatness.
With her passing, our world feels incredibly smaller and chests a lot tighter as we grieve the gaping space her absence has created in our lives. It was the honour of a lifetime to be mentored, shaped and embraced by this giant of a woman.
Dear Elizabeth, we love you. Thanks for everything.