Mon | Dec 2, 2024

Olive Senior’s Hurricane Watch launched at UWI Mona

Published:Sunday | June 5, 2022 | 12:10 AM
Pause
Educator and comedian Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis engages in a conversation at the launch of Olive Senior’s Hurricane Watch.
Contributed
Educator and comedian Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis engages in a conversation at the launch of Olive Senior’s Hurricane Watch.
Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Humanities and Education UWI Mona Nicole Plummer (left) with Olive Senior.
Contributed
Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Humanities and Education UWI Mona Nicole Plummer (left) with Olive Senior.
Ann Margaret Lim (right) and Olive Senior engage with the audience at the launch of Senior’s book.
Contributed
Ann Margaret Lim (right) and Olive Senior engage with the audience at the launch of Senior’s book.
1
2
3

Hurricane Watch: New and Collected Poems by Olive Senior was virtually launched on Tuesday, May 24.

The event hosted by The Department of Literatures in English , UWI Mona, and the University Bookshop presented the poet reading her work to a small audience. A discussion with the poet, featuring Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis and Ann Margeret Lim, was facilitated by Aisha Spencer, acting head of department, The Department of Literatures in English.

Hurricane Watch is a compilation of the complete text of Olive Senior’s four books of poetry plus Eyed, new and uncollected poems.

Since its publication in the United Kingdom in February by Carcanet, Hurricane Watch has garnered favourable attention.

A reviewer from the UK, listing it among six of the “best recent poetry”, noted that “Senior, currently poet laureate of Jamaica, has been producing poetry of beauty and historical resonance for nearly four decades. Hurricane Watch shows her continually remaking the story of cultural exile and belonging. That she plunders a range of traditions to do so itself tells that story”.

Senior’s poems have been taught in schools and universities for many years, including in the CAPE and International Baccalaureate syllabi. Her poems have been translated and anthologised, and recordings can be heard in The Poetry Archive in the UK and the newly established Jamaica Poetry Archive.

Hurricane Watch: New and Collected Poems (UK: Carcanet) is available at the UWI Bookshop in Kingston and other bookstores.