Gordon Rohlehr (20 February 1942 – 29 January 2023)[2][3] was a Guyana-born scholar and critic of West Indian literature, noted for his study of popular culture in the Caribbean, including oral poetry, calypso and cricket.
If for example, you read Selvon's The Lonely Londoners and short stories alongside Sparrow’s calypsoes you might discover something that was peculiarly Trinidadian in both of these people…..those were not my exact words, of course; only a paraphrase of the sense of what I said.
[20][21][22] In 1995 Rohlehr received the University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in the combined fields of Teaching, Research, Administration and Public Service.
[8][23] His retirement from UWI in 2007 was marked by a conference in his honour,[24][25] "for his sterling contribution to the development of West Indian literary and cultural criticism".
At the 2014 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Rohlehr was honoured alongside Professor Kenneth Ramchand with the Henry Swanzy Award for Distinguished Service to Caribbean Letters, which recognises the lifetime achievement of editors, publishers, critics and broadcasters.