Former Poet Laureates
Poet Laureate of Jamaica 2014-2017
Professor Emeritus Mervyn Morris OM
MERVYN MORRIS was born in Kingston in 1937. He studied at Munro College, the University College of the West Indies and, as a Rhodes Scholar, at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. From 1966 until 2002 he was on the staff of the University of the West Indies, retiring as Professor of Creative Writing and West Indian Literature. He received the Order of Merit in 2009.
His books of poems are The Pond, Shadowboxing, Examination Centre (New Beacon Books, London), Vestiges (a limited edition, Erlangen), On Holy Week (Dangaroo Press, Sydney) and I been there, sort of: New and Selected Poems (Carcanet, Manchester, 2006). In 1976 the Institute of Jamaica awarded him a silver Musgrave Medal for poetry. In 2011 the Poetry Archive, London, produced a CD of Mervyn Morris Reading from his Poems. He has given poetry readings in many countries and has conducted poetry workshops in the Caribbean, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.
He is the author of ‘Is English We Speaking’ and other essays (1999), Making West Indian Literature (2005) and Miss Lou: Louise Bennett and Jamaican Culture (Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, 2014).
Books he has edited include Selected Poems by Louise Bennett, It A Come by Michael Smith and After-image by Dennis Scott. He co-edited Jamaica Woman, an anthology of poems by Jamaican women who had not yet published individual collections, and Voiceprint, an anthology of oral and related poetry from the Caribbean.
Poems by Mervyn Morris:
- Peelin’ Orange
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=14626 - Casanova
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=14632 - Little Boy Crying
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=14633 - A Chant against Death
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=14778
Interview with Poet Laureate, Mervyn Morris on RJR’s ‘Jamaica Morning’ http://rjr94fm.com/sites/default/files/podcasts/JAMAICA%20MORNING%20Professor%20Mervyn%20Morris%20.mp3
Click to view the Mervyn Morris Bibliography
Pre-Independence Poets Laureate
Tom Redcam (Thomas MacDermot) received the honour posthumously in October 1933 at a function held at the Ward Theatre and presided over by the Mayor of Kingston.
Tom Redcam (Thomas MacDermot)
John Ebenezer Clare McFarlane O.b.E, J.P., F.R.S.A, who was founder and President of the Poetry League Society of Jamaica, was crowned and robed as Poet Laureate at a ceremony held at the Ward Theatre on April 7, 1953. He served in the role until his death in 1962.
JE Clare Mcfarlane
The Poetry League of Jamaica
The Poetry League of Jamaica was founded by J.E.C. MacFarlane in September 1923. The League was established a branch of the Empire Poetry League, which had its headquarters at Abbey House, Westminster, London.