Brathwaite was born in 1930 in Bridgetown, Barbados. He was educated at Harrison College, before receiving the Barbados Island Scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge. He studied English and History at Pembroke College, receiving his BA in History in 1953, and then a Diploma of Education in 1954. Brathwaite was a well-regarded poet and academic, and one of the major writers in the Caribbean literary canon. He co-founded the Caribbean Artists Movement in London in 1966. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College in 2016. He died in 2020 at the age of 89.