Amryl Johnson | |
---|---|
Born | Tunapuna, Trinidad | 6 April 1944
Died | 1 February 2001 | (aged 56)
Occupation | Poet |
Nationality | Trinidadian British |
Amryl Johnson (6 April 1944 – 1 February 2001) was a writer born in Trinidad who lived most of her life in Britain. [1]
Johnson was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad, and was brought up by her grandparents until the age of 11, when she moved to Britain to join her parents. [2] [3] She attended secondary school in London and went on to study British, African and Caribbean literature at the University of Kent. [4] Much of her work concerned the diasporic nature of her life and the hostility she faced in Britain. [1] For a time, she taught at the University of Warwick but generally supported herself by writing and performing. During the late 1980s, she settled in Coventry. [1]
Sequins for a Ragged Hem (1988) narrates Johnson's second return tour to Trinidad as a spiritual "homecoming" made problematic, among other reasons, by the fact that the house where she was born had been demolished. [5]
Johnson's work was included in several anthologies, including News for Babylon: The Chatto Book of Westindian-British Poetry (1984), Let It Be Told: Essays by Black Women in Britain (1987), Watchers & Seekers: Creative Writing by Black Women in Britain (1987), The New British Poetry (1988), Delighting the Heart (1989), Creation Fire: A CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women's Poetry (1990), Taking Reality by Surprise (1991), Daughters of Africa (1992) and OTHER: British and Irish Poetry since 1970 (1999).
Amryl Johnson | |
---|---|
Born | Tunapuna, Trinidad | 6 April 1944
Died | 1 February 2001 | (aged 56)
Occupation | Poet |
Nationality | Trinidadian British |
Amryl Johnson (6 April 1944 – 1 February 2001) was a writer born in Trinidad who lived most of her life in Britain. [1]
Johnson was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad, and was brought up by her grandparents until the age of 11, when she moved to Britain to join her parents. [2] [3] She attended secondary school in London and went on to study British, African and Caribbean literature at the University of Kent. [4] Much of her work concerned the diasporic nature of her life and the hostility she faced in Britain. [1] For a time, she taught at the University of Warwick but generally supported herself by writing and performing. During the late 1980s, she settled in Coventry. [1]
Sequins for a Ragged Hem (1988) narrates Johnson's second return tour to Trinidad as a spiritual "homecoming" made problematic, among other reasons, by the fact that the house where she was born had been demolished. [5]
Johnson's work was included in several anthologies, including News for Babylon: The Chatto Book of Westindian-British Poetry (1984), Let It Be Told: Essays by Black Women in Britain (1987), Watchers & Seekers: Creative Writing by Black Women in Britain (1987), The New British Poetry (1988), Delighting the Heart (1989), Creation Fire: A CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women's Poetry (1990), Taking Reality by Surprise (1991), Daughters of Africa (1992) and OTHER: British and Irish Poetry since 1970 (1999).