Tiphanie Yanique

Tiphanie Yanique (born September 20, 1978) from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, is a Caribbean American fiction writer, poet and essayist who lives in New York. In 2010 the National Book Foundation named her a "5 Under 35" honoree. She also teaches creative writing, currently based at Emory University.

Land of Love and Drowning (2014)

 * America is not the only country in the world, nor is it the best. It is a new country, with new ways, but it is not the only way, nor is it the best way.
 * Yanique 15, Eeona Bradshaw
 * I cannot explain to you the sensation of drowning. Suffice it to say that it is not peaceful, not tranquil, not even very dramatic, but rather an ongoing tragedy of gargling, choking, spewing out water, gasping for breath.
 * P. 32, Eeona Bradshaw recounting the drowning of her mother


 * We all have our own island, the one we carry with us wherever we go.
 * p. 167, Eeona Bradshaw, on her relationship with the Virgin Islands


 * What right did these white people have to be here in the first place, stealing our land and making our people slaves? And now they have the audacity to try to buy us back from the French like we are nothing more than property?
 * p. 173, Jacob Esau, after hearing of Americas attempts to purchase the island of St. Thomas from France


 * We live in a world where the powerful can do what they want and the rest of us just have to accept it
 * p. 183, Anette Bradshaw


 * It is not only a question of whether the American way of life is superior, but whether the American way of life is sustainable. Can we really continue to exploit the resources of the Caribbean for our own benefit without consequences?
 * p. 219, Eeona Bradshaw, after hearing of American military activities on the Island of St. Thomas


 * People often forget that they too are subject to the whims of the sea, that their flesh and bone can be pulled down and swallowed up just like anything else. But the sea remembers. It remembers everything, from the smallest broken shell to the largest sunken ship.
 * p. 283, Narrator

Quotes About Tiphanie Yanique

 * Tiphanie Yanique's writing is like a warm embrace from a wise and insightful friend.
 * Tayari Jones writing an article in Oprah Magazine, "An American Marriage Author Tayari Jones on the Books That Give Her Life"


 * Tiphanie Yanique's voice is a siren song, pulling you in with its beauty and urgency, and leaving you transformed."
 * Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist


 * Tiphanie Yanique is a writer to watch, a writer to read, a writer to love.
 * Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao