Louise Bennett-Coverley was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, actress, writer, and educator. Born on 7 September 1919 in Kingston, Jamaica, she was the only child of Augustus Cornelius Bennett, the owner of a bakery in Spanish Town, and Kerene Robinson, a dressmaker. Unfortunately her father died when she was only 7 years old, resulting in her mother having to raise her alone. Despite that, she did well in her studies, and studied Jamaican folklore at Friends College in Highgate, St Mary. Her poetry was first published at this time in the Sunday Gleaner, Jamaica’s national newspaper in 1943.

A couple years later in 1945, Louise won a British Council scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London. She was the first Black student to ever study there. Once she graduated, she stayed in England, and worked with companies in Coventry, Huddersfield, and Amersham, as well as intimate revues across the country. She also went on to host two radio programmes during her time in England for the BBC: Caribbean Carnival (1945-1946) and West Indian Night (1950).

She returned to Jamaica, and worked for the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission from 1955 to 1959, and also taught folklore and drama at the University of the West Indies. From 1965 to 1982, she produced Miss Lou’s Views, which was a series of radio monologues, and then in 1970 she started hosting the children’s television programme. In this children would be invited to share their artistic talents on the air. Numerous recordings of traditional Jamaican folk music from her radio and television shows were released. She also appeared in various films such as Calypso (1958) and Club Paradise (1986).

In her extensive career, she was also a very successful poet. Her goal was to preserve the practice of presenting poetry, folk songs, and stories in Patois, in order to establish the validity of local languages for literary expression. Due to the numerous books and poems that she wrote in Jamaican Patois, the language has become symbolic of Jamaica’s vibrant culture. Her works highlight themes of identity, migration, and colonialism.

For the last while of her life she lived in Scarborough, Ontario, which is where she died on 27 July 2006.

Awards:

• 2001 Jamaican Order of Merit
• 1998 Honorary Doctor of Letters- York University
• 1978 Musgrave Medal
• 1974 Order of Jamaica
• 1972 Norman Manley Award for Excellence
• 1960 Member of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire