This was followed by the collections The Stone Gatherer (2009) and Leaving Atlantis (2015),[1] the latter of which won the national Governor General's Award for Literary Excellence in 2016.
[14] Her work is influenced by her childhood in the countryside and her Christian faith, as well as the country's folk culture and history of colonialism.
[1][8] In 2018, Phillips was named as the first poet laureate of Barbados, a three-year position chosen by the country's cabinet and bestowed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth.
[9] She is the chair of the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Committee[16][18] and taught for many years at Barbados Community College.
[19][20] She has been a leader in campaigning for reparations in Barbados, including calling for the island's Drax Hall Estate, a privately owned former plantation, to be converted into a public memorial to the enslaved people who died there.