(Trinidad Guardian) Renowned author and historian, Michael Anthony, a man Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has called “one of our best timekeepers” died at home at the age of 91 on Wednesday night.
The family issued two statements yesterday, the first of which confirmed his death.
“Michael was an icon and a giant in the literary world and his legacy is deeply woven into the tapestry of our nation, which he loved so dearly,” the statement read. It went further in saying, “Above all, Michael was an adoring husband, father and grandfather and we will miss him deeply. We thank you for your well wishes, and we kindly ask for privacy during this difficult time.”
“Anthony was a new breed of writers coming after the first wave that included the giants like Lamming and Selvon. He was an utterly indigenous writer,” academic and writer Professor Kenneth Ramchand said yesterday in reacting to Anthony’s death.
His work spanned across West Indian storytelling and record-keeping of T&T’s history.
In over 30 novels, Green Days by the River became a household name, mainly because the 1967 book was read by hundreds of secondary school students studying literature.
Two years before, The Year in San Fernando was published and it catapulted Anthony into the spotlight.
The indigenousness of his writing as so labelled by Professor Ramchand was echoed by Roydon Salick, who wrote a book on Anthony’s books.
It was titled; T&T’s Mayaro Gold. Salick told Guardian Media yesterday, “More memorably than anybody else, he put Mayaro and San Fernando on the map. Sam Selvon was born in San Fernando and spent the first two decades of his life in San Fernando and didn’t do as much for San Fernando as Michael Anthony who spent in 1942 or so just one year in San Fernando and immortalised it in the book; The Year in San Fernando.”
Ramchand yesterday described him “a meticulous” man whom he said would often make rude jokes.
“He was much freer in conversation than in his writing. He is not a man to use bad words at all,” Ramchand recalled.
He says it took him years for Anthony to tell him legendary calypsonian, Zandolie, born Sylvester Anthony, was his brother “because he was embarrassed.”
Zandolie was considered the King of smut and one of the dominant “rude boys” of calypso music during the 1960s and ‘70s.
Ramchand added that Anthony made political statements with his writing but would not be drawn into speaking about it.
He pointed to Green Days by the River, a book centred on racial themes where an Indian man marries an African woman and have a dougla child or The Year in San Fernando where the southern city is based on sugar and oil production.
“If you read him carefully which people don’t do because they think he is simple, you would see that he makes profound comments about our society,” Ramchand said.
As Anthony’s status in the literary world rose, he would be recognised for it.
He was the recipient of the Hummingbird Medal (Gold) in 1979 for his contribution to literature.
He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from The University of the West Indies in 2003 and an honorary doctorate from the University of T&T in 2016. He also received a lifetime literary award from the National Library.
Despite the accolades down the years, Anthony never ran out of passion for writing.
In 2020, at the age of 90, he published his 35th book titled, The Sound of Marching Feet. It was based on the impact American soldiers had on T&T during the Second World War. Three years before, his iconic Green Days by the River was turned into a movie by director, Michael Mooleedhar.
Yesterday, Mooleedhar recalled how he became friends with Anthony during the production process of the movie.
He would spend time with Anthony at his home at least once a month. He recalled how Anthony loved talking about calypso music.
