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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...

World Poetry Day Jamaica Celebrated in Fine Style

On Monday, March 21, 2022, the National Library of Jamaica (NLJ) hosted their annual “World Poetry Day Jamaica” celebration at The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. The event saw the announcement of the 2022 cycle of the Jamaica Poet Laureate Prizes for Poetry (National Poetry...

Our Favourite Reads: Chandra Smellie on ‘The Painted Canoe’ by Anthony Winkler

Library Assistant at the NLJ, Chandra Smellie, discusses her favourite read – ‘The Painted Canoe’ by Anthony Winkler.

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...

The Story of the Jamaican National Flag

Have you ever wondered what’s the story behind our beloved Jamaican National Flag? Imagine if instead of the black, green, and gold, we hailed the blue, black and yellow? Or what about saluting the ‘white crocodile’? As we celebrate Jamaica’s 55th anniversary as an...

Ishion Hutchinson nominated for prestigious poetry award

Jamaican poet, Ishion Hutchinson has been nominated for the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. This nomination is for his second and latest collection, House of Lords and Commons; published last year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Hutchinson is among...

Lives Derailed: On the 60th Anniversary of the Kendal Train Crash

    In 1957, Norman Manley was Chief Minister, Alfred Hitchcock’s new thriller, Vertigo, had recently premiered at the Carib Cinema, and Radio Jamaica and Rediffusion filled the airwaves with programmes such as ‘Talent Parade’ and Alma Mock-Yen’s ‘Tea Time’....

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...

“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...

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...
Farewell, Poet

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...

“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.

“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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