I’d love to see this be massively edited to see her beautiful writing gain some direction and meaning to shine through.

Louise Bennett review – a stunning debut Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett review – a stunning debut

Though she liked and respected English literature, she wondered why more writers were not using "this medium of dialect instead of writing in the same old English way about autumn and things like that". Her "dialect verses", which began to appear in book form and in Jamaican newspapers in the early 1940s, were immediately popular, though also sometimes impugned in the name of "proper English". Her best known books are Jamaica Labrish (1966), Anancy and Miss Lou (1979), Selected Poems (1982) and Aunty Roachy Seh (1993). This was one of the books I chose for myself as a birthday present - Pond showed what a talented writer Bennett is, and this book is just as impressive - a brave and intensely personal mixture of autofiction and literary criticism that largely focuses on her formative years as a writer and the books that inspired her, and her early stories. Although she lived in Toronto, Canada for the last decade she still receives the homage of the expatriate West Indian community in the north as well as a large Canadian following. If Bennett appears wedded to artistic flexibility, she says she is more emphatic on a political level; she is firmly opposed to the systems of privilege that enable a monarchy, for example, or the election of “a complete buffoon” such as Boris Johnson. “There’s no ambiguity on that. If there was a revolution, I’d be there.” In Ireland, she praises the practical support offered to, among others, artists and writers; she received benefits when she was writing Pond, having explained to the authorities what she wanted to do, “and I just can’t imagine anything like that ever happening in a million years in the UK”. I don’t imagine she’d think of her books in such a transactional way, but it seems to me that the authorities have had a pretty good return on their investment.

Bennett not only had a scholarship to attend the academy but she auditioned and won a scholarship. After graduation she worked with repertory companies in Coventry, Huddersfield and Amersham as well as in intimate revues all over England. There were glimpses of brilliance here and there, but unfortunately they never had space to develop their full potential. My idea is, not as others have done before, to encourage my people to accept a form of art totally unsuited to their personalities, but to apply the excellent English methods of culture to the wealth of native material we possess. There is in the West Indies, a large amount of undeveloped art, which, thanks to the Royal Academy, I could make into valuable contributions to the cultural development of my country. Hohn, Nadia L. (2019). A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louis Bennett Coverly Found Her Voice. Toronto, ON: Owlkids Books. pp.Author's Note. ISBN 9781771473507.

Louise Bennett’s Women Without a Story - The New Yorker Claire-Louise Bennett’s Women Without a Story - The New Yorker

Dr. Basil Bryan, Consul General of Jamaica, praised Bennett as an inspiration to Jamaicans as she "proudly presented the Jamaican language and culture to a wider world and today we are the beneficiaries of that audacity." [19] She was acclaimed by many for her success in establishing the validity of local languages for literary expression. [3] An important aspect of her writing was its setting in public spaces such as trams, schools and churches allowing readers to see themselves, pre- and post-independence, reflected in her work. [20] Her writing has also been credited with providing a unique perspective on the everyday social experiences of working-class women in a postcolonial landscape. [21] Bennett's book retains its integrity. It is a whole in spite of and because of its parts. It may be my top reading experience of 2021. Laugh with Louise: A pot-pourri of Jamaican folklore. Kingston: City Printery. 1961. OCLC 76815511. Initial Officer Training Programme (IOTP) provides basic military officer training to Officer Cadets (OCdts) and their equivalents from law enforcement and uniformed services. The programme falls within the tactical level of the Professional Military Education (PME) framework of armed forces and is modelled from the Royal Military Academy Sandhursts’ (RMAS) Commissioning Course. It was designed with the direct support and guidance of RMAS Instructing and Support Staff. The British Council stated they were unable to grant this extension, as the scholarship funding could only be used for studies in Britain.Louise Bennett Exchange Fellowship in Caribbean Literary Studies University of Toronto – University of West Indies". University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015 . Retrieved 1 May 2016. A selection of Louise Bennett’s personal papers is available at the National Library of Jamaica. ‘Miss Lou Archives’ was launched in October 20, 2016. It contains previously unpublished archival material including photos, audio recordings, diaries and letters. The items were donated to the Library by Miss Lou as she prepared to take up residence in Canada. One of the best known and certainly one of the best loved personalities taking part in the Festival is Jamaica’s Louise Bennett. There is not a Jamaican who does not know her name and very few who have not listened to her reading her poems or plating sketches in the local vernacular on Radio Jamaica.