Lorna Goodison

Lorna Goodison

CD
Born
Lorna Gaye Goodison

(1947-08-01) 1 August 1947 (age 76)
Kingston, Jamaica
NationalityJamaican
Occupation(s)Poet; essayist; memoirist; painter
Known forPoet Laureate of Jamaica, 2017–2020
Notable workI Am Becoming My Mother (1986); From Harvey River (2007); Oracabessa (2013)
RelativesBarbara Gloudon (sister)
AwardsCommonwealth Writers' Prize, 1982
Musgrave Gold Medal, 1999
British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, 2008;
Order of Distinction, 2013
OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, 2014
Windham–Campbell Literature Prize, 2018
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, 2019
American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2020

Lorna Gaye Goodison CD (born 1 August 1947)[1] is a Jamaican poet, essayist and memoirist, a leading West Indian writer, whose career spans four decades. She is now Professor Emerita, English Language and Literature/Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, previously serving as the Lemuel A. Johnson Professor of English and African and Afroamerican Studies.[2][3] She was appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica in 2017 (succeeding Mervyn Morris),[4] serving in the role until 2020.[3]

Goodison's 1986 book of poems, I Am Becoming My Mother, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and her 2013 volume, Oracabessa, won the OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry. In addition to poetry, Goodison has published collections of short stories and essays, as well as the memoir From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island, which in 2008 was the recipient of one of Canada's largest literary prizes, British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, and in May 2009 was featured on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week.

In 2019, Goodison was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.[5][6]

Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Lorna Gaye Goodison was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on 1 August 1947, her birthday coinciding with Emancipation Day.[7] She was one of nine siblings (who include the award-winning journalist Barbara Gloudon).[8] Goodison was educated at St. Hugh's High School,[9] a leading Anglican high school in Jamaica, and studied at the Jamaica School of Art, before going on to the Art Students League of New York,[8][10] where she studied under African-American painter Jacob Lawrence.[11]

As well as painting, Goodison has written poetry since her teenage years, some of her early poems appearing anonymously in the Jamaica Gleaner. She has described poetry as "a dominating, intrusive tyrant. It's something I have to do – a wicked force".[12] She states that Derek Walcott was a major influence on her writing.[8] She has spoken of how Dante and his Divine Comedy impacted on her work,[13] and has said: "I didn't choose poetry—it chose me."[14]

In her 20s, back in Jamaica, Goodison taught art and worked in advertising and public relations before pursuing a career as a professional writer. She began to publish under her own name in the Jamaica Journal, and to give readings.[15][16]

In the early 1990s, Goodison began teaching part of the year at various North American universities, including at the University of Toronto and at the University of Michigan, where she was the Lemuel A. Johnson Professor of English and African and Afroamerican Studies.[17] and is now Professor Emerita.[2] In 2019 she was appointed Writer-in-Residence in the Department of Literatures in English, University of the West Indies, Mona campus.[18]

Writing[edit]

Goodison's first book to be published was the 1980 volume of poems Tamarind Season.[19] Tamarind Season was followed in 1986 by I Am Becoming My Mother, for which Goodison received the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Americas.[19] Her subsequent poetry collections include Heartease (1988),[20] Poems (1989), Selected Poems (1992), To Us, All Flowers Are Roses (1995), Turn Thanks (1999), Guinea Woman (2000), Travelling Mercies (2001), Controlling the Silver (2005), Goldengrove (2006), Oracabessa (2013) and Supplying Salt and Light (2013). Oracabessa, described as "a book of risky journeys, mappings and re-mappings through Spain, Portugal, Canada and her homeland of Jamaica as the poet navigates place, history and imagination", won the Poetry category of the 2014 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, when the judges stated: "In Oracabessa the distinctive voice of Lorna Goodison–an elegant, captivating fusion of international English and Jamaican Creole–presents segments of autobiography as a series of travels. Goodison's persuasive art is a many-sided celebration of spiritual search."[21][22]

Her most recent poetry collection, Mother Muse, was published in 2021. Ben Wilkinson wrote in The Guardian: "Her writing is often a celebration of the spirit and tenacity of women; in various ways, Mother Muse ... extends this feature of her work."[23] Mother Muse "orbits around two important 'mother' figures in Jamaican music: Sister Mary Ignatius, the nun who ran Kingston's Alpha Boys School, celebrated for nurturing musical talent; and Anita 'Margarita' Mahfood, a celebrated dancer and lover of ill-fated musician Don Drummond — who was an Alpha Boys alumnus. Other poems contemplate, celebrate, and elegise woman ranging from the famous to the tragic to the unknown."[24]

Goodison has also published three collections of short stories, Baby Mother and the King of Swords (1990), Fool-Fool Rose Is Leaving Labour-in-Vain Savannah (2005), and By Love Possessed (2012).[25]

In 2008, her non-fiction book, From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island – "a lyrical and luminous tale that spans several generations"[26] – won British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, Canada's largest prize for non-fiction.[27] The memoir was featured on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in May 2009, read by Doña Croll.[28] Lisa Fugard's review in The New York Times concluded: "Goodison's praise songs can be found in her many volumes of poetry and now in this loving memoir. It's a legacy that can be traced back to her infancy, when Goodison's mother dipped her finger in sugar and rubbed it under her daughter's tongue, ensuring her the gift of sweet speech."[29] Goodison has said that during the dozen years it took her to write From Harvey River she drew inspiration from the work of John Keats, whom she first encountered studying the English Romantic poets on her Jamaican school syllabus.[11][30]

Goodison's collection of essays, Redemption Ground: Essays and Adventures, was published in 2018 by Myriad Editions[31][32] – "a gathering of people, voices, stories, and the fruits of great labor", as characterised by SX Salon,[33] while the Montreal Review of Books stated that "Goodison's collection privileges moments of effervescence, where feelings are strong and some kind of revelation is just below the surface."[34] The book featured in The Observer as one of "20 classic books by writers of colour", being chosen by Margaret Busby.[35] Redemption Ground was published in Canada in 2023 by Véhicule Press.[36]

Goodison's work has appeared widely in magazines, has been translated into many languages and over the past 25 years has been included in such anthologies as Daughters of Africa (1992), The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry (2003), the HarperCollins World Reader, the Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, and Longman Masters of British Literature (2006).[10][37][38]

Poet and literary scholar Edward Baugh says "one of Goodison's achievements is that her poetry inscribes the Jamaican sensibility and culture on the text of the world".[39] Together with issues of home and exile, her work addresses the power of art to explore and reconcile opposites and contradictions in the Caribbean historical experience. Kei Miller notes: "Primarily a poet, Goodison hasn’t been afraid of crossing the fence into other genres: she has written short stories and a much-celebrated memoir. ...I suspect she still isn't as celebrated as she really ought to be because there simply doesn’t exist the perfect critical language to talk about what she is doing, the risks she is taking, and why exactly they succeed."[40]

Other creative activity[edit]

Also an artist, Goodison has exhibited her paintings internationally,[41] and her own artwork is usually featured on the covers of her books.[42]

Since 2017, Goodison has worked with dub poet and martial arts trainer Cherry Natural (born Marcia Wedderburn) to host a series of summer workshops pairing poetry and self-defence for girls aged from nine to 17, held at the Institute of Jamaica.[43][44]

Personal life[edit]

One of nine siblings – including journalist, author, playwright Barbara Gloudon (1935–2022) – Goodison is married to author and retired English literature professor J. Edward (Ted) Chamberlin and they live in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia, Canada.[16][19][45]

Recognition[edit]

In 2013, Goodison was awarded the Jamaican national honour of the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD), "for outstanding achievements in Literature and Poetry".[46][47]

In 2015, Goodison was honoured by the University of Michigan with its Shirley Verrett Award; given to "a faculty member whose work encourages the advancement of women of color in the arts", the award was created in 2011 in tribute to former University professor and renowned opera singer Shirley Verrett.[48]

In 2017, Goodison was invested as the second official poet laureate of Jamaica, after Mervyn Morris, becoming the first woman to hold the title.[49][50][51][52] She marked her first Emancipation Day in the role with a poem "In Celebration of Emancipation", which commemorates the end of enslavement of African peoples in Jamaica.[53] Goodison has said: "I don't think it is an accident that I was born on the first of August, and I don't think it was an accident that I was given the gift of poetry, so I take that to mean that I am to write about those people and their condition, and I will carry a burden about what they endured and how they prevailed until the day I die."[54]

In 2018, Yale University announced Goodison as one of eight recipient of the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize, honouring writers for their literary achievement or promise and awarding them each a US$165,000 individual prize to support their writing.[55][56][57][58]

In 2019, she was a recipient of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry,[59][60] which was presented to her at Buckingham Palace in March 2020[61][62][63] (an occasion she subsequently wrote about in commemoration of the Queen's life for The Guardian).[64]

In 2020, Goodison was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[65]

In 2022, she received an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Letters) from Durham University.[66]

In 2023, Goodison was honoured as a Royal Society of Literature International Writer, an annual life-long award recognising the contribution of writers across the globe to literature.[67]

Awards[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Poetry collections[edit]

  • Tamarind Season (Institute of Jamaica, 1980)
  • I Am Becoming My Mother (New Beacon Books, 1986, ISBN 978-0901241689; winner of Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Americas region)
  • Heartease (New Beacon Books, 1988, ISBN 978-0901241870)
  • Poems (Research Institute for the Study of Man/CommonWealth of Letters, 1989)
  • Selected Poems (University of Michigan Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0472064939)
  • To Us, All Flowers Are Roses (University of Illinois Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0252064593)
  • Turn Thanks (University of Illinois Press, 1999, ISBN 978-9766371951)
  • Guinea Woman: New and Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2000, ISBN 978-1857544862)
  • Travelling Mercies (McClelland & Stewart, 2001, ISBN 978-0771033827)
  • Controlling the Silver (University of Illinois Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0252072123)
  • Goldengrove: New and Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2006, ISBN 978-1857548488)
  • Oracabessa (Carcanet, 2013; ISBN 978-1847772428)
  • Supplying Salt and Light (McClelland & Stewart, 2013; ISBN 978-0771035906)
  • Collected Poems (2nd edition) (Carcanet, 2017, ISBN 9781784106386)
  • Mother Muse (Carcanet, 2021, ISBN 9781800171060)

Short story collections[edit]

Memoir[edit]

Essay collection[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ring, Deborah A., "Goodison, Lorna". Contemporary Black Biography. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Lorna Goodison", LSA International Institute, University of Michigan.
  3. ^ a b "Poet Laureate of Jamaica 2017–2020 | Lorna Goodison, CD". National Library of Jamaica. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  4. ^ Johnson, Richard (20 March 2017). "Goodison is poet laureate". Jamaica Observer.
  5. ^ a b "Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry 2019 awarded to Lorna Goodison". The Royal Household, 18 December 2019.
  6. ^ "Jamaica's Lorna Goodison awarded Queen's gold medal for poetry". Jamaica Observer. 18 December 2019.
  7. ^ Welsh, Louise (7 April 2019). "Louise Welsh meets Jamaica's Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison". The National.
  8. ^ a b c "Lorna Goodison - Poet Laureate, A Lover Of Country, A Voice To Its People", Jamaica Gleaner, 19 May 2017.
  9. ^ Ó Tuama, Pádraig. "A Conversation with Lorna Goodison". Image. No. 104. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Lorna Goodison", Poetry Foundation.
  11. ^ a b Wagner, Vit (28 January 2011). "Lorna Goodison : Passion for Keats weaves through writer's work". Toronto Star. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  12. ^ Interview with The Guardian, quoted in the introduction to her 1986 collection of poetry, I Am Becoming My Mother.
  13. ^ "Lecture | Going Through Hell". Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICI). Berlin. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  14. ^ Siklosi, Kate (4 September 2020). "Lorna Goodison and the Wicked Force of Poetry". The Walrus.
  15. ^ "Lorna Goodison" (PDF). Voices from the Gaps. Regents of the University of Minnesota. 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  16. ^ a b Aldred, Lennox (14 February 2021). "WOMEN OF DISTINCTION | Lorna Goodison, distinguished and dignified". Jamaica Gleaner.
  17. ^ "Lorna Goodison appointed collegiate professor at University of Michigan". Jamaica Gleaner. 6 September 2009.
  18. ^ "Lorna Goodison is Writer-in-Residence in the Department of Literatures in English, UWI". The University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  19. ^ a b c Bailey Nurse, Donna (22 May 2020). "'I did not see these stories being written': Lorna Goodison, winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, looks back on a 40-year career as a poet". The Globe and Mail. I was writing these poems, and some people began to take notice. Like Neville Dawes, who was the head of the Institute of Jamaica. At the time, I was working at an advertising agency where everybody was moonlighting as an artist. After I finished writing copy, I would spend time in my office writing poems.
  20. ^ Pollard, Velma (September 1989). "Review". Journal of West Indian Literature. 3 (2): 90––97. JSTOR 23019620.
  21. ^ "Three Writers Join The Shortlist For The 2014 OCM Bocas Prize", Bocas News, NGC Bocas Lit Fest, 30 March 2014. Archived 30 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ^ a b "Top three for OCM Bocas Prize named". T&T Guardian. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  23. ^ Wilkinson, Ben (4 June 2021). "The best recent poetry – review roundup". The Guardian.
  24. ^ "The inspiring Mother Muse". Trinidad Express. 3 July 2021.
  25. ^ Tuhus-Dubrow, Rebecca (14 December 2012). "Fiction Chronicle (review of By Love Possessed)". The New York Times.
  26. ^ Henry, Abigail. "#SummerReads: 'From Harvey River' by Lorna Goodison". National Library of Jamaicca. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  27. ^ "Lorna Goodison Wins Canada's Largest Non-Fiction Award". British Columbia Achievement Foundation. 7 February 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  28. ^ "From Harvey River", Book of the Week, BBC Radio 4, 5 May 2009.
  29. ^ Fugard, Lisa (30 March 2008). "Mama Goodie". The New York Times.
  30. ^ Colbert, Jade (28 March 2011). "That's just how she does it — Lorna Goodison, By Love Possessed (Interview)". The Varsity. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  31. ^ "SOLD OUT! An evening with poet Lorna Goodison in conversation with Margaret Busby", Waterstones, London – Trafalgar Square, 30 August 2018.
  32. ^ The Arts Hour, BBC World Service, 11 September 2018.
  33. ^ Bogle, Cornel (October 2020). "redemption is the key". Sx salon. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  34. ^ Singh, Aishwarya (16 March 2023). "Imagining and Reimagining". Montreal Review of Books.
  35. ^ Morris, Kadish (3 October 2021). "Akala, Bernardine Evaristo, Ben Okri and more pick 20 classic books by writers of colour". The Observer.
  36. ^ "Redemption Ground: Essays and Adventures" at Véhicule Press.
  37. ^ Lorna Goodison page at Carcanet.
  38. ^ Lorna Goodison at Myriad Editions.
  39. ^ Baugh, Edward (February 2006). "Making Life". Caribbean Review of Books.
  40. ^ Miller, Kei (15 November 2013). "An Appreciation of Lorna Goodison". Carcanet Press.
  41. ^ "Goodison, Lorna 1947– ". Black Literature Criticism: Classic and Emerging Authors since 1950. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  42. ^ "Lorna Goodison on 'Redemption Ground' and how she got into writing". Spotlite by Literandra. 15 March 2020 – via YouTube.
  43. ^ Sharlene Hendricks, "Using poetry as a self-defence tool", Jamaica Observer, 12 August 2018.
  44. ^ "All Flowers Are Roses – self-defence programme champions girls", Loop Jamaica, 20 August 2018.
  45. ^ Jespersen, Rik (24 January 2020). "Coast poet awarded royal prize". Coast Reporter. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  46. ^ National Honours and Awards, Office of the Prime Minister, 2013.
  47. ^ "The Arts Play Big Part In This Year's National Honour", The Gleaner, 7 August 2013.
  48. ^ Khan, Sarah (11 February 2015). "Former professor receives University award for literary work". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  49. ^ Batson-Savage, Tanya (21 March 2017). "Lorna Goodison First Female Poet Laureate of Jamaica". Susumba.
  50. ^ Staff, Harriet (24 March 2017). "Jamaica's Next Poet Laureate: Lorna Goodison". Poetry Foundation.
  51. ^ "Lorna Goodison is Jamaica's first female poet laureate", Jamaica Observer, 19 May 2017.
  52. ^ Reckord, Michael (21 May 2017). "'Poetry ... My Friend, Comforter' - Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison Excited To Take On New Role". The Gleaner.
  53. ^ "In Celebration of Emancipation: A New Poem by Lorna Goodison, Poet Laureate of Jamaica", National Library of Jamaica, 8 August 2017.
  54. ^ "Lorna Goodison: Jamaican Poet Laureate", In the Studio (at 1.40), BBC World Service, 29 August 2017.
  55. ^ "J'can Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison wins prestigious literature award", Jamaica Observer, 7 March 2018.
  56. ^ "Jamaica's Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison wins US$165,000 prize", Jamaica Observer, 8 March 2018.
  57. ^ "Jamaican poet Lorna Goodison wins US$165,000 literary prize", Loop, 11 March 2018.
  58. ^ Hill, Keisha (16 January 2019). "RJRGLEANER Honour Awards | For Arts & Culture (Special Award): Lorna Goodison - Telling Jamaica's Story Through Poetry". The Gleaner.
  59. ^ "Lorna Goodison recipient of Her Majesty’s 2019 Gold Medal of Poetry", The Poetry Society, 18 December 2019.
  60. ^ "Lorna Goodison to receive Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry", Jamaica Observer, 18 December 2019.
  61. ^ "From Harvey River to Halfmoon Bay". BC BookLook. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  62. ^ "Goodison Receives Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry". LSA University of Michigan. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  63. ^ Gee, Dana (29 April 2020). "Queen awards B.C. poet top prize just before COVID-19 lockdown". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  64. ^ Goodison, Lorna (9 September 2022). "Lorna Goodison on what the Queen meant to Jamaicans". The Guardian.
  65. ^ Wadley, Jared (23 April 2020). "Three from U-M elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences". The University Record. University of Michigan.
  66. ^ "Ceremonies | Honorary Graduates - Summer 2022". Durham University. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  67. ^ Wild, Stephi (30 November 2023). "Twelve Writers Appointed in the Third Year of The Royal Society of Literature's International Writers Programme". Broadway World. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  68. ^ "Three professors receive prestigious Henry Russel Award at U-M". Michigan News. University of Michigan. 19 February 2004. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  69. ^ Adams, James (8 February 2008). "Lorna Goodison wins B.C. non-fiction award". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  70. ^ "Lorna Goodison awarded Shirley Verrett Award". Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS). College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  71. ^ "Goodison Receives WOCAP Verrett Award in a Music and Poetry Filled Event". CEW+ (Center for the Education of Women+). University of Michigan. February 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  72. ^ "Poet Lorna Goodison wins Windham-Campbell Prize". Radio Jamaica. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  73. ^ Levine, Romi (28 February 2019). "U of T to confer honorary degrees upon 13 influential scholars, artists and leaders". U of T News.
  74. ^ Jespersen, Rik (29 March 2019). "Coast writers honoured with doctorates". Coast Reporter.
  75. ^ "New Members Elected in 2020", American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
  76. ^ RSL International Writers

Further reading[edit]

  • Alexander, Mary L. "Woman as Creator/Destroyer in Three Poems of Lorna Goodison", Caribbean Studies, 1994.
  • Kwame, Dawes, "Lorna Goodison", Talk Yuh Talk: Interviews with Anglophone Caribbean Poets, Charlottesville & London: University Press of Virginia, 2001, pp. 99–107.
  • Jenkins, Lee M. "Penelope's Web: Una Marson, Lorna Goodison, M. NourbeSe Philip" in The Language of Caribbean Poetry: Boundaries of Expression, University Press of Florida, 2004.
  • Kuwabong, Dannabang. "The Mother as Archetype of Self: A Poetics of Matrilineage in the Poetry of Claire Harris and Lorna Goodison", Ariel, 1999.
  • McNeilly, Kevin. "World Jazz 5: Lorna Goodison Leaves Off Miles Davis", Canadian Literature, 2004.
  • Narain, Denise. "Lorna Goodison: delivering the word", in Contemporary Caribbean Women's Poetry: Making Style, Routledge, 2002.
  • Pollard, Velma. "Mothertongue: Voices in the Writing of Olive Senior and Lorna Goodison", in Motherlands, ed. Susheila Nasta, Rutgers University Press, 1992.

External links[edit]

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