Lorna Goodison is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica, and a major figure in world literature.

She is the author of nine collections of poetry, three collections of short stories and an award-winning memoir, From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People. Her Collected Poems was published in 2017. Redemption Ground: Essays and Adventures is her first collection of essays and was published by Myriad in August 2018.

Her many awards include the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Musgrave Gold Medal from Jamaica and the Windham Campbell Literature Prize. Her work is included in major anthologies of contemporary poetry and has been translated into many languages. She is a central figure at literary festivals throughout the world.

Born in Jamaica, Lorna Goodison now lives in Canada. She is Professor Emerita at University of Michigan, where she was the Lemuel A. Johnson Professor of English and African and Afroamerican Studies. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica in 2017, a position she will hold until 2020.

Interviews and Features

Interview with Jenni Murray on Woman‘s Hour, BBC Radio 4

The first female Poet Laureate of Jamaica Lorna Goodison talks to Jenni Murray about her love of poetry, being taught by Derek Walcott, and how she decided to invent ‘adventures’ as a new literary genre for Redemption Ground, which Jenni describes as ‘a beautiful book… absolutely splendid.’

You can listen again here.

Interview with Jo Good on BBC Radio London

Laughter and tears as BBC Radio London’s presenter Jo Good is ‘blown away’ by ‘the wonderful Lorna Goodison’ talking about her childhood in Jamaica and decision to become a poet, and reading the elegy to her mother. As Jo says, ‘Lorna Goodison writes lyrically and decisively. Redemption Ground absolutely blew me away… it is quite extraordinary, like an arrow in the heart.’

You can listen again here.