Anthony Winkler

Anthony C. Winkler is a Jamaican-born author, lecturer, freelance writer, playwright and screenwriter who currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1942, he attended school in Kingston and then in Montego Bay, St. James, and later received Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English at California State University in Los Angeles.

His fiction writing's settings are always in Jamaica, though the exact locations and the characters who live in them differ with each plot. Each story paints a picture of Jamaica during the time period in which the story is set, and illustrates the various social, racial and class divides that exist(ed) among Jamaica's people, particularly between the 1950s and 1970s.


 * The Painted Canoe (1984)
 * The Lunatic (1987), which spawned a film in 1991 starring Paul Campbell and Carl Bradshaw
 * The Great Yacht Race (1992)
 * The Burglary, a play produced in Jamaica in 1993 and in Toronto in 2005
 * Going Home to Teach (1995)
 * The Duppy (1997)
 * The Annihilation of Fish (1999), a screenplay filmed in Los Angeles and starring James Earl Jones and Margot Kidder
 * The Annihilation of Fish and Other Stories (2004), a short story collection
 * Dog War (2006)
 * Crocodile (2009)


 * About the Author: On the back covers of the paperback editions of his books.
 * Abusive Parents
 * All Men Are Perverts: Most of the male characters are portrayed to have this mindset.
 * Ax Crazy: Those who suffer from madness in his stories, whether they are main characters or not. In The Lunatic it's played for laughs.
 * Bad Boss
 * Bad Dreams
 * Badass: Many of Winkler's characters are this way.
 * Big Eater
 * Big Fancy House
 * Bigger Is Better in Bed
 * Butt Monkey: Winkler has these in his stories too, mostly consisting of men whose wives or girlfriends beat them up regularly.
 * Character Development: Most of Winkler's characters get this in some form. The best example is Baps in The Duppy.
 * Christianity Is Catholic: Played straight with certain individual characters, although other Christian denominations are acknowledged and sometimes jabbed at.
 * Comedic Sociopathy
 * Complete Monster: Winkler's works have these too.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: Several times among different characters.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: In the more comedic stories.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Where appropriate.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Several characters across Winkler's works.
 * Deadpan Snarker: At least one in every story.
 * The Determinator: Winkler's protagonists are often this.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)
 * Flat Earth Atheist: The doctor in The Painted Canoe, Inga in The Lunatic, and the philosopher in The Duppy are examples.
 * Good People Have Good Sex
 * Happily Married: A number of characters are this.
 * Jerkass: Winkler makes sure, for the most part, that these characters are VERY unlikeable, both in-story and by the reader.
 * Kids Are Cruel
 * Mama Bear: Do not interfere with Jamaican women's children.
 * Manly Tears: Zachariah in The Painted Canoe and Aloysius in The Lunatic are capable of this.
 * Parental Abandonment
 * Precision F-Strike: Winkler's books aren't exactly meant for children...
 * Rape as Backstory
 * Real Life Writes the Plot
 * Rule of Funny: The Lunatic and The Duppy in particular run on this.
 * Tsundere: Carina in The Painted Canoe; Inga in The Lunatic; and Roxanne in The Great Yacht Race are examples.
 * Your Cheating Heart