Derek Bickerton

Derek Bickerton is an English-born linguist who has lived and worked in Hawaii for nearly 40 years. Known first for his studies of Creole languages and his controversial bioprogram theory (Roots of Language, 1981), he has more recently focused on the evolution of language (Language and Species, 1990; Adam's Tongue, 2009). He has done extensive fieldwork in Guyana, Mauritius and the Seychelles as well as in Hawaii. In addition to his academic books he has published five novels; though no Christian, the most recent (The Desert and the City, 2009) is one of the few Christian novels readable by non-believers. In a varied life (partly described in his memoir, Bastard Tongues, 2008) he has traveled to many parts of the world, played with a dot-com bubble, worked on a suicide-and-crisis line, and more. Married once and forever to Yvonne Harrison, former actress and sex-therapist, he is the father of the post-modern artist Ashley Bickerton.