Alvin Cummins

“Cummins’ forte lies in his ability to create wonderfully real characters whom he breathes life into until their presence brings each page alive with warmth, compassion and pathos.” - Wayne Jordan (Author) -

Alvin Cummins was born in Barbados in 1933 and attended Combermere Boys’ School. He left the island in 1958 to attend Harper College, of the State University of New York (SUNY) on a tuition waiver, where he studied for the Bachelor’s Degree, with a major in Biology. Upon completion trained as a Medical Technologist, and became a Fellow of the Society of Medical Technologists of the West Indies.

He returned to Barbados in 1963 and assumed the position of Senior Technologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The desire for further study resulted in training at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York and a certificate in Exfoliative Cytology, and after a journey to the University of the West Indies; Mona campus where he completed his BSc (Special) in Clinical Microbiology and a MSc. in Microbiology.

It was in Jamaica in 1970 that he commenced work on his first novel: “The Wind Also Listens,” a novel that traces a young Barbadian’s “escape” from the stultifying and prejudiced-filled atmosphere that was pre-independence Barbados. It also highlights the ways in which other young people ‘escaped’ from that society, migrating to other countries to seek better lives. He migrated to Toronto, Canada, the same year, resulting in a halt to the book’s completion until 1997.

In Toronto he worked at Mt. Sinai Hospital, as Charge Technologist in the Microbiology Department. His first Scientific Publication, appeared in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology in 1973. At the same time he completed studies at the University of Toronto, obtaining a Diploma in Public Administration, and also obtained a Diploma in Hospital and Health Care Administration, from the University of Saskatchewan.

After resigning from Mt. Sinai in 1980, he was appointed as Supervisor of Microbiology, from 1981 to 1983, at Hamad Hospital, in Doha, Qatar. He returned to Barbados in 1985 and established Med-Chem Laboratories, a private medical diagnostic laboratory, and commenced research on “Azole Antifungal Resistance in Vaginal Candidiasis,” at the University of the West Indies; Cave Hill Campus, reading toward his Ph.D in Microbiology, and was awarded the M.Phil degree in 2007.

His contribution to the Literary Arts include four plays, three musicals (book and lyrics), four novels; with another one completed but not yet published. Two of the novels, 'The Royal Palms are Dying' and 'The Wind Also Listens', were joint winners of the Prime Minister’s Award at the Frank Collymore Literary awards (2007), while a play, 'The Home Coming', received literary awards at the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA).

He has been an actor, a member of the Green Room Players, performing from Shakespeare to a Barbadian adaptation of Broadway’s 'Fiddler on the Roof' (Okras in the Stew). He has performed in Television plays: 'Domino Alley', radio dramas: