Michael Record(Gleaner Writer)
Tributes from Friends , Colleagues and Admirers of the late historian , essayist and poet Edward Kamau Brathwaite paid homage in poetry and music to their late colleague at a function at The Neville Hall Lecture Theatre at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona organized by the Department of Lectures in English. Brathwaite was the 2006 International Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize, for his series of poetry, ‘Born to Slow Horses’. A holder of an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Sussex and co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM), Brathwaite has received both the Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and is a winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature ‘The Bussa’
Mr. Brathewaite died on Feb 4 and was buried in his native Barbados on Feb 21. The Barbadian poet and academic easily considered one of the major voices in Caribbean Literature. He lectured at the History Department Mona Campus UWI Jamaica , he later migrated to the US where he was a Professor of Comparative Literature at New York University . Dr. Rachel Moseley-Wood (head of The Department and Lecturer. B.A., M.A., Ph) remarked “Brathwaite left ‘A Remarkable Legacy with us’
Dub Poet Cherry Natural, Dr. Kim Robinson-Walcott(editor of the Jamaica Journal and Caribbean Quarterly), poet and talk show host Mutabaruka and visiting journalist Ross Kenneth Urken (who premiered his book about his Jamaican roots) read from some of their work.
Drummers Phillip Supersad, Daniel ‘Trumpet Mills and Calvin Mitchell played in tribute to the late Kamau Brathwaite.
Mr. Michael Bucknor (past department head) declared March ‘Literatures in English Month’
Tribute to The late Dr. Kamau Brathwaite