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International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

August 23 is marked as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. August 1791 is also the anniversary of the start of the Haitian Revolution. The uprising of enslaved and free black men and women on the island of Saint-Dominique...

Our New Money! On the Anniversary of Changeover Day

On Monday September 8, 1969 (known as Changeover Day) Jamaica saw the introduction of five (5) coins that truly marked the beginning of Jamaican currency/coinage. After 149 years (1840) of using the currency of the United Kingdom, the island was finally getting ‘its...

Unlocking History: Unlocking History: Barry Wade’s Landmark Thesis Goes Digital!

The National Library of Jamaica (NLJ) proudly announces the digital release of a scientific treasure: “Study on the Biology of the Beach Clam, Donax (Bivalvia, Donacidae) in the West Indies” by renowned researcher Barry Wade (June 1965). For the first time, this...

Leaving a Lasting Legacy: A Tribute to Professor Emerita Daphne Rowena Douglas, CD

It was Maya Angelo who said, “If you are going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can’t be erased." These words resonate deeply when we reflect on the remarkable journey of Professor Emerita Daphne Rowena Douglas, CD, whose life embodied the...

Farewell, Poet

Statement on the death of Sir Derek Walcott by Mrs. Winsome Hudson, National Librarian and CEO of the National Library of Jamaica   So Derek Walcott, the poet is dead. But, Derek Walcott was not just any poet; he was the poet who unconditionally loved the people...

Presenting Lorna Goodison, Poet Laureate of Jamaica

  On Wednesday, May 17, 2017, Lorna Goodison CD was officially invested as the Poet Laureate of Jamaica 2017-2020. Despite the heavy rains the day before, the glittering Ballroom at King's House was filled with dignitaries, well wishers, and lovers of poetry...

#Summer Reads: The Pagoda by Patricia Powell

Handpicked by National Library of Jamaica staff, these books are sure to grab your attention and maybe even teach you something you didn’t know before. All our #SummerReads are available in the book collection at the NLJ. Let us know what you think!      The...

Home At Last: The Anthony Winkler Archives at the National Library of Jamaica

    The following speech was delivered by Dr. Kim Robinson-Walcott at the Presentation of the Anthony Winkler Archives to the National Library of Jamaica on April 6, 2017.   Kim Robinson-Walcott, PhD, is editor/head of Caribbean Quarterly, University of...

Remembering Tom Redcam: Jamaica’s first Poet Laureate

In celebration of the birthday of Tom Redcam - 147 years ago today - we remember the legacy of Jamaica's first Poet Laureate. J.E.Clare McFarlane once wrote that 'any consideration of the poetry of Jamaica must, of necessity, begin with Tom Redcam'.   Thomas...

“Miss Lou and Why She Matters” – Presentation by Professor Mervyn Morris, Poet Laureate of Jamaica at the Launch of the Miss Lou Archives on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016 at the NLJ.

For many of Miss Lou’s admirers she was simply a humorous entertainer.  She was always more than that.[1]  As Robert Verity put it in 1961: ‘Her work has constituted an invaluable contribution to the discovery and development of an indigenous culture and her verses...

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