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Valerie Bloom

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Valerie Bloom
Bornc. 1956 (age 67–68)
Alma materUniversity of Kent at Canterbury
Occupation(s)Poet, novelist

Valerie Bloom MBE (born 1956)[1][2] is a Jamaican-born poet and novelist based in the UK.[3][4][5]

Early life

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Born in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, Bloom moved to England in 1979.[6] She attended the University of Kent at Canterbury and earned an honours degree and was later awarded an honorary master's degree. She currently lives in Kent.

Works

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Bloom has published several collections,[7] the most recent of which is The River's A Singer. Her first collection was Touch Mi, Tell Mi, published by Bogle-L'Ouverture in 1983, and this was followed by Duppy Jamboree (Cambridge University Press, 1992), Let Me Touch the Sky, The World Is Sweet and Hot like Fire. She has also edited a number of collections, including One River Many Creeks and A Twist in the Tale.[3]

Bloom has written lyrics for world jazz ensemble Grand Union Orchestra, including "Can't Chain Up Me Mind" on their 1989 live show and album, Freedom Calls.[8] The show featuring Bloom's lyrics was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in January 1990.[9]

Her first novel was Surprising Joy (2003). Her next novel, The Tribe, was published by Macmillan Children's Books in 2007.

She writes poetry both in English and Jamaican Patois (and has been referred to as "a successor to Louise Bennett").[2] Many of her performances include a "crash course" in patois for audience members unfamiliar with the language. She has performed widely throughout the UK and abroad and has appeared on many radio and TV programmes. In 2005, she made a series of three programmes focusing on Jamaican poetry for BBC Radio 4 entitled Island Voices.

Awards and honours

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She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.[3]

Selected bibliography

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Poetry

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  • Touch Mi! Tell Mi! (Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, 1983; revised edition 1990, ISBN 978-0904521528)

For children — poetry and picture books

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Novels

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Anthologies (edited)

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  • On a Camel to the Moon, and Other Poems About Journeys (Belitha Press [now Chrysalis Books], 2001, ISBN 9781841382579)
  • One River, Many Creeks: Poems from All Around the World (Macmillan Children's Books, 2003, ISBN 978-0333961148; paperback ISBN 978-0330397681)
  • A Twist in the Tale: Surprising Poems Chosen by Valerie Bloom (Macmillan Children's Books, 2005, ISBN 978-0330398992)

Guides

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References

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  1. ^ "Valerie Bloom b. 1956", The Poetry Archive.
  2. ^ a b Jeffrey Wainwright, Poetry: The Basics (2004), 2nd edition, Routledge, 2011, p. 21.
  3. ^ a b c "Valerie Bloom", British Council — Literature.
  4. ^ Bloomsbury.com - Children's Authors.
  5. ^ Valerie Bloom - Victoria and Albert Museum.
  6. ^ Valerie Bloom page at PanMacmillan.
  7. ^ Valerie Bloom - Poetry Archive
  8. ^ Jazz, All About (3 April 2012). "Grand Union Orchestra: Music and Movement article @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  9. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - 13 January 1990 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
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