By Neil Armstrong
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| Photo credit: Sophia Findlay Lorna Goodison, poet, author, academic and former Poet Laureate of Jamaica, 2017-2020 |
A soon-to-be-published anthology celebrating Jamaica’s cultural ambassador, the late Louise Bennett-Coverley, includes the contributions of several Jamaicans, some of whom live in Toronto or used to call Toronto home but have returned to their birthplace. It also includes the Canadian librarian of a university in Ontario that houses the Louise Bennett Coverley ‘Miss Lou’ fonds.
Ms Lou 100+ Voices Anthology, to be published by The UWI Press, is the brainchild of Professor Opal Palmer Adisa, University Director of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies, Mona, and the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Government of Jamaica.
In early 2019, there was an open call from Professor Adisa for entries for an anthology featuring 100 voices in honour of Miss Lou’s 100th birthday, #misslou100. Entries could fall in one of six categories: academic, reflection, poetry, children’s works, stories, and illustrations.
The anthology was not ready in time for Miss Lou’s 100th birthday celebrations on September 7, 2019 and was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It is expected out later this year and will be published by the UWI Press.
There are over-330 pages in the book which has 110 articles written by 105 contributors. The publication is divided into four sections: One Big Family, Reaffirming Our Culture, Aunty Roachy Seh, and Engaging in a Quarrel with History.
Lorna Goodison Foreword: Simply Love
Poet, author, painter and academic Lorna Goodison has written the foreword “Simply Love.” She used to divide her time between Ann Arbor, Michigan; Toronto; and Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia. In 2017, she was appointed as Jamaica’s Poet Laureate, succeeding Mervyn Morris and this year Olive Senior became the nation’s new poet laureate.
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Section One: One Big Family
Section One: One Big Family includes articles written by Fabian Coverley and Pamela Appelt, son and longtime friend of Miss Lou, respectively, and co-executors of the Estate of Louise Bennett-Coverley, and me.
In 1987, Appelt was appointed the first female Afro-Canadian to serve as a judge of the Court of Canadian Citizenship, a position she held for 11 years before retiring to pursue other interests. During her tenure, she administered the ceremony where Miss Lou took the oath of citizenship. A member of the council of the Institute of Jamaica, Appelt was also the co-chair of the committee for the 50th anniversary celebration of Jamaica’s Independence in Toronto in 2012.
Her piece is titled ‘Reflections and Memories,’ while Coverley’s article is ‘My Mother, My Friend.’
Coverley, who has 50 years of experience in the fire detection protection industry with services in Canada, Kuwait, USA, UK, Africa and Europe, was a broadcast engineer in Jamaica and Canada.
He is married to Olive for 46 years and they are the proud parents of sons, Clayton, Craig, Jamie, and adore their granddaughter, Caylen.
The CEO of Coverley Holdings Inc. and director/consultant of International Agencies Management Inc. (IAMI) has established the Louise Bennett Coverley Foundation, (LBCF) with the mission of “Maintaining the Memories and Legacy of Louise Bennett and Eric Coverley Alive.”
In the piece that I have written, ‘You Can’t Bury Creativity,’ I reflect on the many interviews and conversations I had with Miss Lou.
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| Photo contributed Kevin Ormsby, founder and artistic director of KasheDance |
Section Two: Reaffirming Our Culture
Kevin Ormsby and Lisa Tomlinson collaborated to write ‘A Ring Ding Love Affair.’
Artistic director of KasheDance, Kevin A. Ormsby works as a dancer/choreographer and Arts strategies consultant. He is the program manager for Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO), professor of Dance Performance at Centennial College and an adjunct artist with Dance Exchange in Washington, D.C.
The 2016 Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Fellowship recipient and Toronto Arts Council’s Cultural Leaders Lab Fellow appeared on Miss Lou’s popular children’s program, Ring Ding, on JBC Television.
With a career that spans over 30 years, Ormsby has performed with various companies and projects in Canada, the Caribbean and the U.S. He currently sits on the Board of Nia Centre for the Arts, Dance Collection Danse, and Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts.
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| Photo contributed Dr. Lisa Tomlinson, author and lecturer in literary and cultural studies, the Institute of Caribbean Studies and Reggae Studies Unit, The UWI |
Lisa Tomlinson, an author of two books, Una Marson (2019) and The African-Jamaican Aesthetic: Cultural Retention and Transformation Across Borders (2017), has taught at universities and colleges throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
She specializes in literary and cultural studies of the Caribbean and African diaspora. Tomlinson is currently a lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus in Kingston, Jamaica, where she teaches undergraduate courses in literature and film.
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| Photo contributed Grace Carter-Henry Lyons, |
Grace Carter-Henry Lyons, the founder and musical director of the Heritage Singers, a group founded in 1977, wrote ‘Friend of the Heritage Singers in Canada’ regarding Miss Lou.
The group aims to promote the development of Caribbean folk music and theatre; use folk singing and dance as tools to bridge cultural gaps internationally; enhance, ethnic, historic and social traditions; and to share that heritage with the larger community.
Since its inception, the Heritage Singers has performed in Jamaica, the U.S., Netherlands, Taiwan, Germany, Mexico and Venezuela; produced recordings and videos; and been the subject of a CBC documentary.
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| Photo credit: Neil Armstrong Pamela ('Pam') Mordecai, author and academic |
Section Three: Aunty Roachy Seh
Poet, author and academic Pamela ('Pam') Mordecai wrote ‘Bawl Woman Bawl.’
A former language arts teacher with a PhD in English, she was for fourteen years editor of the Caribbean Journal of Education. The author of over thirty books including textbooks, children's books, six collections of poetry, a reference work on Jamaica (with her late husband, Martin), a collection of short fiction and a novel, her creative and critical writing appears in numerous journals, as well as in major anthologies of Caribbean and African-Canadian literature.
Her writing for children and adults is represented in anthologies and textbooks on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in West Africa and Malaysia. She has a strong interest in promoting the writing of Caribbean women and has edited and co-edited ground-breaking anthologies of their writing.
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| Photo credit: Sophia Findlay Lillian Allen performing at Reggae Lane in Little Jamaica, Toronto |
Lillian Allen, grassroots artist, cultural activist and university professor has written ‘Queenie Queenie and Colonial Empire.’
She is a professor of creative writing at Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD) and a two-time JUNO Award winner and trailblazer in the field of spoken word and dub poetry.
Allen artistically explores the aesthetics of old and new sounds in music to create her distinctive leading edge brand of Canadian reggae with new world sounds in her poetry recordings, with her powerful reggae dub poetry/spoken word recordings, including her latest single Woken & Unbroken (2018), album ANXIETY (2012), her ground-breaking first solo Juno award-winning album Revolutionary Tea Party, a Ms. Magazine Landmark Album, followed by another Juno winner, Conditions Critical.
Her third album, Freedom & Dance and her recording for children and young people, Nothing But a Hero, were released to critical acclaim.
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| Photo contributed Nadia L. Hohn, author and teacher |
Nadia L. Hohn is a dynamic "story lady" who has presented to audiences in Canada, United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jamaica, and Trinidad.
Her contribution in the Miss Lou anthology is entitled ‘Louise Go a Country.’
Hohn’s first two books, Music and Media in the Sankofa Series, were published by Rubicon Publishing in 2015. Her award-winning first picture book, Malaika's Costume was published in 2016 and its sequel Malaika's Winter Carnival 2017 by Groundwood Books. Hohn is also the author of Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter, an early reader by Harper Collins published in December 2018.
A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett-Coverley Found Her Voice, Hohn’s nonfiction picture book was published in 2019 by Owlkids.
She is an elementary school teacher in Toronto and has taught early years music in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
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| Photo contributed Owen "Blakka" Ellis, actor, writer and teacher |
Actor, writer and teacher, Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis has written ‘Mi Name Jamaica.’
Ellis is an established artist who is also involved in education and training. He has conducted workshops and training seminars for development workers, cultural agents, Peace Corps volunteers, diplomats, teachers and performing artists locally and internationally. These projects include working in places such as England, Germany, Canada and Zimbabwe.
Photo credit: Klive Walker, author, music historian and cultural critic
Section Four: Engaging in a Quarrel with History
Klive Walker’s contribution is titled ‘The Truth Must Reveal Itself.’
He is a UK-born Jamaican-Canadian author, music historian and cultural critic who is a specialist in reggae culture, its birth in Jamaica and its adventures in Canada, the United States and the UK. Walker also writes about jazz, rock and hip hop.
His writing is not confined to music, he discusses photography and is an analyst of international cinema with a focus on Caribbean films from the region and the diaspora.
Walker’s book Dubwise: Reasoning from the Reggae Underground was published by Insomniac Press in 2005. His essay “The Journey of Reggae in Canada” appears in Global Reggae edited by Carolyn Cooper (UWI Press, 2012). His reggae timeline is showcased in Nadia Hohn’s children’s book, Music (Rubicon, 2015). The book, Ears, Eyes, Voice: Black Canadian Photojournalists 1970s-1990s, (BAND, 2019) features his essay “Essential Thermometer.”
Ajamu Nangwaya’s article is ‘Miss Lou, Organic Intellectual of the Jamaican Masses
In her Examination of Racial Politics.’
Nangwaya is a former lecturer in the Institute of Caribbean Studies, the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. He is co-editor (with Michael Truscello) of Why Don’t the People Rise Up? Organizing the Twenty-First Century Resistance and (with Kali Akuno) of Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, Mississippi.
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| Photo credit: Eddie Grant Vivian Lewis, McMaster University Librarian and Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Government of Jamaica |
McMaster University Librarian, Vivian Lewis, has penned her article, ‘Celebrating Miss Lou’s Historical Record: A Canadian Perspective’
Lewis was reappointed for a five-year term as McMaster University Librarian in 2018.
Since her appointment in 2013, the Library has made significant contributions in support of the University’s broader research mission, taking a leadership role in key campus-wide projects.
Lewis is a recognized leader in her field. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), both headquartered in Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries from 2014 to 2018.
Lewis first came to McMaster in 1991 as a government information specialist. She assumed the role of Associate University Librarian in 2003.
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