Phillips, Caryl (1958- )

West Indian-born novelist and playwright who moved to England in 1959. His work, which explores the conflicts of race and heritage and the themes of loss and persecution, includes the plays Strange Fruit (1981), Where There is Darkness (1982), and The Shelter (1984); and the novels The Final Passage (1985), A State of Independence (1986), Higher Ground (1989), Cambridge (1991), The Nature of Blood (1997), and A Distant Shore (2003).

Phillips has also written screenplays and radio plays, including Crossing the River (1985), and he is chief editor of the Faber and Faber Caribbean Writers' series.