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Anderson Reynolds was born and raised in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia, however he received his college education in the US where he graduated with a PhD in Food and Resource Economics from the University of Florida. After graduation, he worked two years as a visiting professor with the University of Guelph, then nine years as a corporate economist with Southwestern Bell Communications in St. Louis, Missouri, until resettling in St. Lucia in 1999.
Upon resettlement, Dr. Reynolds founded Jako Productions, a cultural and entertainment enterprise that encourages the artistic expression of St. Lucian culture and promotes that culture worldwide through its website, social media, the publication of books and magazines, the production of music and film, the management of artists, and the staging of musical, literary and other cultural events.
He established EconoTech Consulting Services in 2004 where he is serving as one of the principal consultants. Additionally, Dr. Reynolds held the position of senior economist at the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunication Authority and served on the Board of several NGOs and government institutions.
Besides Dr. Reynolds’ cultural activism and career involvement, since his return to St. Lucia he has become one of the island’s most prominent and prolific writers. So far, he has authored six books. The three most recent books were They Called Him Brother George: Portrait of a Caribbean Politician, NO MAN’S LAND: A Political Introspection of St. Lucia and the memoir, My Father Is No Longer There. His first book, the novel Death by Fire, won the 2001 M&C main prize for literature. His second book, The Struggle For Survival: an historical, political and socioeconomic perspective of St. Lucia, won a 2003 M&C prize for prose. And an earlier unpublished version of The Stall Keeper, his third book, was the winner of the 2012 CDF National Arts Award for prose.
In addition to writing books, Dr. Reynolds is a regular contributor of feature articles to the nation’s major newspapers and he served as the chief editor and a principal writer for The Jako Magazine. His newspaper articles won him a 2001 M&C literature award for creative journalism, and similarly his writings for The Jako Magazine won the 2006 National Arts Award for creative journalism. Dr. Reynolds’ books, journalistic pieces, and blogs have established him as one of St. Lucia’s leading public intellectuals and a foremost authority on its socioeconomic and political history.
Dr. Reynolds’ writing, be it fictional or nonfictional, has been described as a world (The World of Anderson Reynolds) in which a great drama unfolds, where history, geography, nature, culture, the supernatural, and socioeconomic factors all combine to seal the fate of characters, communities, or for that matter the fate of whole nations or civilizations. In this crucible of a world, readers are provided with deep insights into where St. Lucians come from, who they are as a people, and how they became who they are.
