Kim Robinson-Walcott | |
---|---|
Born | 1956 (age 67–68) |
Nationality | Jamaican |
Alma mater | McGill University; University College London; University of the West Indies |
Occupation(s) | Poet and editor |
Notable work | Out of Order! (2006) |
Kimberly-Ann Robinson-Walcott (born 1956) is a Jamaican poet and editor. She has been the editor-in-chief of the Jamaica Journal since 2004 and editor-in-chief of the Caribbean Quarterly since 2010. Robinson-Walcott is the author of a study of the white Jamaican novelist Anthony Winkler, titled Out of Order! (2006).
Robinson-Walcott was born in 1956 [1] and earned a bachelor's degree in English from McGill University in 1977. [2] In 1979, she earned a master's degree in town planning from University College London. [2] She earned her PhD in English from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 2001. [2] She married Harclyde Walcott and had two children, Miles and Sidney. [1]
In 1981, Robinson-Walcott began her career as the director of editing for Kingston Publishing but left in 1986. [2] Until 1994, she was the strategic planning director of Kingston Restoration Company, planning the renovation of historic properties in Kingston. [1] [3] That year, she started her own publishing consulting business, Editors Ink, and returned to Kingston Publishers as the director of editing, [1] focusing her work on children's books and fiction. In 2000, she became the book editor at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, UWI, and continued in that post for a decade. [2]
Robinson-Walcott became the editor-in-chief of the Jamaica Journal , the primary publication of the Institute of Jamaica in 2004. [4] [5] Her work there focused on gathering contemporary scholarly work on the arts, history, medicine and science from colleagues at the University of the West Indies and sharing those with the public. Issues might focus on a mix biographical studies of essential figures in Jamaican history, dancehall culture, sculpture, medicinal plants, historic landmarks, aerial photography, as well as book reviews and other topics. [6]
Robinson-Walcott's book Out of Order! (2006) was called "a brilliant exercise in literary criticism" by Caribbean Quarterly . [7] The book examines the work of the white Jamaican novelist Anthony Winkler. [7] It discusses the issue of race in the Caribbean and his work. [7] The Jamaica Gleaner called it "A smart and crackling engagement with West Indian whiteness." [8] Robinson-Walcott knew Winkler personally and he has said that she "discovered" him. [9] In addition, she was his first editor. [9]
Robinson-Walcott has also done work on John Hearne and challenged his placement in the canon of Caribbean literature. [10] She wrote the introduction for the short-story collection John Hearne's Short Fiction. [11] She has been a fixture on the cultural lecture circuit, giving many presentations on important figures in Jamaica's history and cultural acquisitions, such as Anthony Winkler's archive. [12] [13]
In October 2010, Robinson-Walcott became the editor-in-chief of Caribbean Quarterly , [2] [14] simultaneously continuing her work with the Jamaica Journal. [2] She also writes poetry. [15]
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Each country is either a member of the Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory.
Edward Alston Cecil Baugh CD was a Jamaican poet and scholar, recognised as an authority on the work of Derek Walcott, whose Selected Poems (2007) Baugh edited, having in 1978 authored the first book-length study of the Nobel-winning poet's work, Derek Walcott: Memory as Vision.
John Edgar Colwell Hearne was a Jamaican novelist, journalist, and teacher.
Jamaican literature is internationally renowned, with the island of Jamaica being the home or birthplace of many important authors. One of the most distinctive aspects of Jamaican literature is its use of the local dialect — a variation of English, the country's official language. Known to Jamaicans as "patois", and now sometimes described as "nation language", this creole has become an important element in Jamaican fiction, poetry and theater.
Carolyn Cooper CD is a Jamaican author, essayist and literary scholar. She is a former professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. From 1975 to 1980, she was an assistant professor at Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. In 1980, she was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies (UWI), where she continued to work until her retirement as a professor in 2017. Also a newspaper journalist, Cooper writes a weekly column for the Sunday Gleaner.
The Musgrave Medal is an annual award by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of achievement in art, science, and literature. Originally conceived in 1889 and named in memory of Sir Anthony Musgrave, the founder of the Institute and the former Governor of Jamaica who had died the previous year, the medal was the first to be awarded in the Western Hemisphere.
Anne Liburd also known as Ann Liburd was a Kittitian women’s rights activist and community organizer. She served as president of the National Council of Women in St. Kitts and was the first and then three-time president of the Caribbean Women’s Association. She headed several programs to develop women's entrepreneurial skills and then served as the first president of the Federation of Labour Women, a political affiliation of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party to help women gain leadership and communication skills.
Patricia Alison "Pat" Bishop TC was a Trinidadian educator, music director, artist and cultural icon. She was one of the first women to arrange for steelbands and was the recipient of the Trinity Cross, the highest of the National Awards of Trinidad and Tobago.
Dame Elsie Payne was a teacher and following independence she became the first Barbadian-born principal of Queen's College in Bridgetown. She was the first woman knighted in Barbados for her long dedication to education and the nation.
Marie Grace Augustin, OBE, commonly known as Grace Augustin, was a Saint Lucian businesswoman and politician. After attaining a nursing and midwifery degree, she studied law, but was refused permission to take a bar examination based on her gender. Instead, Augustin became the first woman in Saint Lucia to manage a large estate, becoming a planter. She was the first woman to be nominated as a parliamentarian in St. Lucia and become the first female member of the legislature.
Shirley Miller is a Jamaican attorney and one of the first women admitted as Queen's Counsel in the Caribbean. Admitted to the inner bar in 1971, she became the first Queen's Counsel in Jamaica and has served in numerous capacities, including as head of the Legal Reform Department and on the Electoral Advisory Committee. She served on a committee of three to review Jamaica's Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and was honored as a commander in the Order of Distinction, as well as receiving the Order of Jamaica for her contributions to legal reform.
Sheila Dorothy King, CD was a Barbadian-born, Jamaican academic and physician. She was the second woman to be appointed as full professor at the University of the West Indies (UWI). She was the first woman appointed as a professor in the Faculty of Medicine in 1983, ten years after she was appointed as head of UWI's Microbiology Department. A specialist in infectious disease and viral epidemiology, she advised numerous national, regional and international departments and governmental agencies on such diseases as dengue, influenza, and typhoid. In 1998, she was honored as a Commander of the Order of Distinction.
Barbara Joy Gloudon was a Jamaican writer. She received two Seprod Awards from the Press Association of Jamaica and Order of Distinction. Gloudon was a scriptwriter for Jamaica's Little Theatre Movement (LTM) and wrote radio drama. She hosted a radio talk show for thirty years and became chair of the LTM. She was granted the Order of Jamaica in 1992 and became a fellow of the Institute of Jamaica in 2012.
Marguerite WykeOBE was an American-born Trinidadian teacher, poet, artist and politician. After growing up in Jersey City, New Jersey, and working as a teacher, she married and moved to Canada for a decade and then relocated to Trinidad. Writing for various journals and newspapers, and cultivating the artistic community in Trinidad, she became active in local politics. Renouncing her U.S. citizenship, Wyke became a Trinidadian citizen in 1953 and became active in the island's governance. With the establishment of the West Indies Federation, she was appointed as one of two senators from Trinidad and Tobago and one of only two women senators to serve in the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation. When the Federation dissolved, Wyke returned to her artistic endeavors, publishing poetry and participating in various art media.
Gema Ramkeesoon was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian social worker and women's rights activist who was one of the early pioneers of the women's movement in Trinidad and Tobago. She was honored for her social service work as a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1950 and received the gold Hummingbird Medal from Trinidad and Tobago in 1976.
Bridget Jones was a British literary academic who pioneered the inclusion of Caribbean literature in European university studies programs. While teaching French literature at the University of the West Indies, Jones developed an interest in French Caribbean writing and developed one of the first PhD curricula focused on francophone Caribbean literature. Upon returning to England, she taught at the University of Reading and the Roehampton Institute. An annual award, distributed by the Society for Caribbean Studies, as well as a scholarship program, given by the University of the West Indies, are named in her honour.
Hazel Conupe Monteith, O.D., J.P. was an Afro-Jamaican consumer rights advocate, radio personality and social worker. Graduating from the first course in social work offered by the University of the West Indies, Monteith worked for twelve years as a traveling field agent coordinating social welfare projects for the Jamaica Federation of Women.
Edris Elaine, Lady Allan was a Jamaican community worker, political figure and women's rights advocate. From childhood, she performed community service and worked as a clerk in several retail establishments prior to her marriage. She was the first telephone operator for the Jamaica All Island Telephone Service. As the wife of Sir Harold Allan, honored with the first knighthood bestowed on a Jamaican of African descent by the British crown, she became an instant celebrity, traveling often with her husband and serving as his secretary. A founding member of the Jamaica Federation of Women (JFW), she held many offices in the organization including serving as chair from 1959 to 1962 and again from 1971 to 1976, and then president from 1976 until her death in 1995.
Nerine Barrett is a Jamaican classical pianist, one of the few black women who have achieved international recognition as a pianist. She was selected in 1966 by the Young Concert Artists to appear at Carnegie Hall and the following year won the Mozart Memorial Prize of the Haydn-Mozart Society of London. In the 1980s, she began teaching music as a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Saar and later at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. She continued to perform both as a solo artist and as part of the Trio Paideia.
Maureen Warner-Lewis is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian academic whose career focused on the linguistic heritage and unique cultural traditions of the African diaspora of the Caribbean. Her area of focus has been to recover the links between African cultures and Caribbean cultures. She has been awarded multiple prizes for her works, including two Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Awards, the Gold Musgrave Medal of the Institute of Jamaica, and she was inducted into the Literary Hall of Fame of Tobago.