Heather Royes

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Heather Hope Royes (born 1943) [1] is a Jamaican media consultant, HIV/AIDS consultant and poet.

Contents

Education and career

Royes received a bachelor of arts from the University of Oregon. She attended the University of the West Indies, Mona and earned a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1980. [2] She has worked in the Jamaican government, including as cultural attaché in Mexico City in the 1980s. [3] [4]

She studies HIV/AIDS and, in 1993, published a pioneering study on "Jamaican Men and Same-Sex Activities." [5] She has authored several papers and reports on the subject, including a 1999 UNESCO report on Jamaica's experience with HIV/AIDS. [6]

Poetry

Royes has been writing poetry since the 1960s. [7] Her poetry has been included in anthologies such as Heinemann's Jamaica Woman (1980) and Anthology of African and Caribbean Writing in English (1982), the Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse in English (1986), and the Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse (2005). [8] [9] In 1996 she published her first collection, The Caribbean Raj, consisting of about 30 poems divided into four sections. [7] [10] In 2001 she won the National Literary Competition and in 2005 she published a second volume, Days and Nights of the Blue Iguana, which included some poems from her first collection as well as new works. [11] [12] [13]

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References

  1. ↑ Brown, Stewart; McWatt, Mark, eds. (2005). The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse. Oxford University Press. p. xi.
  2. ↑ Zach, Paul, ed. (1989). Insight Guide Jamaica. Apa Productions. p. 314. ISBN   9780134663760.
  3. ↑ Nettleford, Rex M.; LaYacona, Maria (1985). Dance Jamaica: Cultural Definition and Artistic Discovery: The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, 1962-1983. Grove Press. pp. 88, 236. ISBN   9780394543161.
  4. ↑ "Appointments". The Daily Gleaner. 8 January 1981. p. 2.
  5. ↑ Cowell, Noel M. (March 2011). "Public Discourse, Popular Culture and Attitudes Towards Homosexuals in Jamaica". Sexualities in the Caribbean. 60 (1): 31–60. JSTOR   41635291.
  6. ↑ Muturi, Nancy (2008). "Faith-Based Initiatives in Response to HIV/AIDS in Jamaica". International Journal of Communication (2): 108–131.
  7. 1 2 "Caribbean Bookshelf". Caribbean Beats (25). May–June 1997. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Wisker, Gina, ed. (1992). Black Women's Writing. Springer. p. 58. ISBN   9781349225040.
  9. ↑ "Heather Royes". Peepal Tree Press. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Mordecai, Martin; Mordecai, Pamela (2001). Culture and Customs of Jamaica. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 128. ISBN   9780313305344.
  11. ↑ Philp, Geoffrey (2006). "Days and Nights of the Blue Iguana". The Caribbean Writer. 20: 217–219.
  12. ↑ Lakhan, Anu (August 2006). "Things only poems say". Caribbean Review of Books (9) – via Peepal Tree Press.
  13. ↑ Cooke, Mel (28 October 2005). "Enthralling poetry from Heather Royes". The Gleaner. p. 32 – via Peepal Tree Press.


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