Ramabai Espinet (born 1948) is an Indo-Trinidadian poet, novelist, essayist, and critic fromTrinidad and Tobago. Espinet was born inSan Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago.^[1] She attendedYork University inToronto, Canada before earning a Ph.D. at theUniversity of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad.^[2] She currently teaches English atSeneca College.^[3] Her writings on Euro-Creole women are influenced by works byJean Rhys andPhyllis Shand Allfrey. Most of Espinet's works relate to her Indo-Caribbean heritage.Sister Vision Press published her first four works inToronto, Canada.

Espinet has stated that she desires to illustrate the experiences of Indo-Caribbeans and highlight the effects of alcoholism and abuse on West Indian women. West Indians have said that the bookThe Swinging Bridge gives them values, articulates their experiences, and contains "language for the healing".^[4] Although Espinet talks specifically about San Fernandians, Indo-Caribbeans have noted that the book is universal and important because it tells the stories of their youth and represents their experiences for the larger society.

• "Trini-Canadian author launches debut novel Race and passion in Swinging Bridge," by Marcia Henville inCaribbean Voice, 13 March 2005.
• "The Swinging Bridge," reviewed by Patricia Clark inCollege Quarterly 7.1 (2004).
• Coming Home (CaribbeanTales, 2006). A one-hour film-documentary that follows Ramabai Espinet as she returns to her hometown of San Fernando, Trinidad, in order to launch her novelThe Swinging Bridge. What begins as a simple nostalgic journey becomes a fascinating exploration of a brilliant writer's imagination.

From her bookThe Swinging Bridge, Ramabai Espinet is said to have created the "kala pani poetics." The “kala pani poetics” is meaningful for two reasons: it transforms the marginalized widows in India into more autonomous members of society with mobility and it places an emphasis on the "mother history" of a scattered Indian lineage (Mehta 20).

• Nuclear Seasons (1991)
• Beyond the Kalapani
• Indian Robber Talk
• Creation Fire: ACAFRA Reading Anthology of Caribbean Women's Poetry (as editor)
• "Barred: Trinidad 1987"
• The Swinging Bridge (2003)^[5]
  • Shortlisted for the 2004Commonwealth Writers' Prize, category of Best First Book (Caribbean and Canada Region); longlisted for the 2005International Dublin Literary Award; and selected for the Robert Adams lecture series 2005.^[6]
• Indian Cuisine (1994)
• The Princess of Spadina (1992)
• Ninja's Carnival (1993)

• Clark, Patricia."The Swinging Bridge, Reviewed by Patricia Clark",College Quarterly 7.1 (2004).
• Henville, Marcia.Trini-Canadian author launches debut novel Race and passion in Swinging Bridge.Caribbean Voice, 13 March 2005[1]
• "Ramabai Espinet on The Swinging Bridge", YouTube video.
• Mehta, B. (1 January 2006). "Engendering History: A Poetics of the Kala Pani in Ramabai Espinet's The Swinging Bridge".Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism.10 (3):19–36.doi:10.1215/-10-3-19.S2CID 143934539.
• Biography, Bibliography.University of Minnesota's Digital Conservancy, Project:Voices from the gaps;Short form

• Trinidad and Tobago non-fiction writers
• Trinidad and Tobago novelists
• Trinidad and Tobago poets
• 1948 births
• Living people
• People from San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
• York University alumni
• University of the West Indies alumni
• 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago women writers
• Trinidad and Tobago women poets
• 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago women writers
• Women non-fiction writers
• Trinidad and Tobago women novelists
• 21st-century novelists
• Academic staff of Seneca College

• Articles with hCards