Poet Laureate makes cultural connections

Poet Laureate of Jamaica, Olive Senior was a featured poet opening the ‘Out of Many Lit Festival’, produced by the Jamaica Society Leeds in the United Kingdom. This diaspora celebration of Jamaica’s diamond jubilee saw Senior sharing the stage with Simon Armitage, poet laureate of the United Kingdom.

Following their readings, both went on to have a whimsically succinct conversation raising topics ranging from decolonisation, the COVID-19 pandemic and the environment, to simple pleasures such as Christmas pudding and breathing fresh air.

In addition to time poetry reading, Senior, on the second day of the festival, delivered a heritage master class to a mixed group of residents affiliated with the Jamaica Society Leeds.

She spoke on the importance and the processes of making cultural connections, delineating, and incorporating all aspects of one’s heritage.

“The Poet Laureate of Jamaica Programme has within its remit using literature to take Jamaican culture,” said National Library of Jamaica’s (NLJ’s) Director of Special Programmes, Royane Green, who took part in the fest. “ We, at the National Library of Jamaica, believe in utilising this kind of foundation for culture-led development, to the benefit of Jamaicans at home and abroad.”

The NLJ partnered with the Jamaica Society Leeds for this year’s staging of the ‘Out of Many Lit Festival’. The NLJ has been home to the Poet Laureate of Jamaica Programme since its reintroduction in 2014.

Since Independence in 1962, there have been three officially appointed poet laureates - Professor Mervyn Morris, Lorna Goodison and Olive Senior.