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Grace Nichols
FRSL (born 1950) is a
Guyanese poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
who moved to Britain in 1977, before which she worked as a teacher and journalist in Guyana. Her first collection, ''I is a Long-Memoried Woman'' (1983), won the
Commonwealth Poetry Prize The Commonwealth Poetry Prize was an annual poetry prize established in 1972, for a first published book of English poetry from a country other than the United Kingdom. It was initially administered jointly by the Commonwealth Institute and the Nat ...
. In December 2021, she was announced as winner of the
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...
.
Early years and education
Grace Nichols
FRSL was born in
Georgetown, Guyana, and lived in a small village on the country's coast
until her family moved to the city when she was eight years old. She took a Diploma in Communications from the
University of Guyana
The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is Guyana's national higher education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the following Mission: "To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of the highest standard for ...
, and subsequently worked as a
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
(1967–70), as a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
and in government information services,
[ Margaret Busby (ed.), '' Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'', London: Vintage, 1993, p. 796.] before she immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1977.
Much of her poetry is characterised by
Caribbean rhythms and culture, and influenced by Guyanese and
Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
folklore.
Literary career
Her first collection of poetry, ''I is a Long-Memoried Woman'' won the 1983
Commonwealth Poetry Prize The Commonwealth Poetry Prize was an annual poetry prize established in 1972, for a first published book of English poetry from a country other than the United Kingdom. It was initially administered jointly by the Commonwealth Institute and the Nat ...
.
A film adaptation subsequently won a gold medal at the International Film and Television Festival of
New York, and the book was dramatised for
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
radio.
Her novel for adults, ''Whole of a Morning Sky'', was published in 1986. In 1992, her work featured in the anthology ''
Daughters of Africa'' (edited by
Margaret Busby).
Nichols has published several further books of poetry, including in 2006 volume of new and selected poems, ''Startling the Flying Fish'', and her books for children encompass collections of short stories and poetry anthologies. Her poetry is featured in the
AQA,
WJEC (Welsh Joint Education Committee), and
Edexcel English/English Literature
IGCSE
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attain ...
anthologies – meaning that many GCSE students in the UK have studied her work. Her religion is Christianity after she was influenced by the UK's many religions and multi-cultural society.
Anthologise — annual poetry competition for schools
In 2011 Nichols was a member of the first ever judging panel for a new schools poetry competition named "Anthologise", spearheaded by Poet Laureate
Carol Ann Duffy
Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...
.
["Anthologise - A national poetry anthology competition"]
Picador, 14 July 2011. School students aged 11–18 from around the UK were invited to create and submit their own anthologies of published poetry. The first ever winners of Anthologise were the sixth-form pupils of
Monkton Combe School,
Bath, with their anthology titled ''The Poetry of Earth is Never Dead''.
Honours and recognition
Nichols has been the recipient of several awards for her poetry, beginning with the
Commonwealth Poetry Prize The Commonwealth Poetry Prize was an annual poetry prize established in 1972, for a first published book of English poetry from a country other than the United Kingdom. It was initially administered jointly by the Commonwealth Institute and the Nat ...
in 1983, for ''I is a Long Memoried Woman'', and her work is on several
GCSE syllabuses.
In 2021, Nichols was the recipient of the
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...
, on the basis of her body of work, chosen by a committee chaired by Poet Laureate
Simon Armitage
Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds.
He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...
.
Personal life
She lives in
Lewes,
East Sussex,
with her partner, the Guyanese poet
John Agard
John Agard FRSL (born 21 June 1949 in British Guiana) is an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in Britain. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. .
Bibliography
*''I is a Long-Memoried Woman'', London:
Karnak House, 1983 to 1984
* ''The Fat Black Woman's Poems'', London:
Virago Press
Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several British femini ...
, 1984
* ''A Dangerous Knowing: Four Black Women Poets'' (
Barbara Burford
Barbara Yvonne Veronica Burford (9 December 1944 – 20 February 2010) was a British medical researcher, Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant and writer. She was born in Jamaica and moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 10. Burford ...
, Gabriela Pearse, Grace Nichols,
Jackie Kay), London: Sheba, 1985
* ''Whole of a Morning Sky'' (novel), London:
Virago Press
Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several British femini ...
, 1986
* ''Over the River'', 1986
* ''Hurricane Hits England'', 1987
* ''Come into my Tropical Garden'' (poems), 1988
* ''Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Woman'' (poems), 1989
* ''Sunris'' (poems), London: Virago, 1996
* ''Startling the Flying Fish'', 2006
* ''Picasso, I Want My Face Back'',
Bloodaxe Books, 2009
* ''I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems'', Bloodaxe, 2010
* ''Island Man''
* ''The Insomnia Poems'', 2017
* ''Passport to Here and There'', Bloodaxe, 2020
Awards
*1983:
Commonwealth Poetry Prize The Commonwealth Poetry Prize was an annual poetry prize established in 1972, for a first published book of English poetry from a country other than the United Kingdom. It was initially administered jointly by the Commonwealth Institute and the Nat ...
(for ''I is a Long Memoried Woman'')
*1986:
Arts Council Writers' Award
*1996:
Guyana Poetry Prize (for ''Sunris'')
*2000:
Cholmondeley Award
The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has be ...
*2007: Elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature
*2008: Guyana Poetry Award ''Never live unloved''
*2021:
Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry
References
External links
"Interview with Grace Nichols" The English Association
The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general.
It was founded in 1906 by ...
.
Further reading
*"Grace Nichols", "Writers and Their Work" Series, Sarah Lawson Welsh (Northcote Press & the British Council; 2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Grace
1950 births
Black British women writers
Living people
Guyanese poets
Guyanese women writers
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
People from Georgetown, Guyana
Guyanese emigrants to England
Guyanese women novelists
Guyanese novelists
20th-century poets
Guyanese women poets
21st-century poets
20th-century women writers
21st-century women writers
Guyanese short story writers
20th-century Guyanese writers