E. R. Braithwaite (Edward Ricardo Braithwaite) Biography

Guyanese autobiographical writer, diplomat, and teacher, born in Georgetown, British Guiana, educated at City College, New York and the Universities of Cambridge and London. His varied career included service with the RAF in the Second World War, and as Permanent Representative of Guyana at the United Nations. To Sir, With Love (1959), about his experiences as a teacher in London, was an international bestseller. Other novels include Paid Servant (1962), about his experiences as a social worker; Choice of Straws (1965), which tackles racism among the white working class; and Reluctant Neighbours (1972). His visit to Africa is recorded in the trenchant A Kind of Homecoming (1962), and to South Africa in Honorary White (1975), perhaps his best book. It chronicles his almost farcical encounters with the white authorities, who suspended the rigours of apartheid in recognition of his ‘celebrity’ status.