Brown went on to hold various fellowships in the United States connected with creative writing, and has also been involved in the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa. He edited a selected edition of the poetry of his mentor, Derek Walcott, in 1981. In 1977, Brown returned to the Caribbean, initially to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he took up a teaching position at Fatima College, and was appointed information officer to the American Embassy. The cover for the anthology was designed by Brown's wife, Megan. Sisson, Stevie Smith, Donald Davie and Ted Hughes. In addition to poems by former Gregory Fellows and other "Leeds Poets" such as Geoffrey Hill, Vernon Scannell and Robin Skelton, the anthology included contributions from poets including Philip Larkin, C.H. Brown states that he felt "gratified at how readily the poets, some quite famous, agreed to their poems being reprinted, gratis." (4) This perhaps gives some indication of the esteem in which this small student publication was held. Volume 21:6 of the magazine, published in 1975, was issued as a Selected Poems, edited by Brown.Īlso in 1975, Brown compiled and co-edited the 21 Years of Poetry and Audience anthology with Tom Wharton. For which I remain very grateful." (2) He enjoyed meeting the students, finding them "unpretentious but high-spirited and hard-working" (3) held a weekly student poetry workshop and contributed both poems and editorial advice to the literary journal Poetry and Audience. He later reflected on his time in Leeds as "A womby interlude. Brown's own appointment might, therefore, be considered within the context of the development of the study of Commonwealth and Postcolonial literatures as an academic subject at Leeds.ĭespite having found the University campus somewhat cold and impersonal, Brown appreciated the time to write that the Gregory Fellowship gave him. Two years previously, William Walsh, a lecturer in the School of English at Leeds since 1957, had become the first Professor of Commonwealth Literature in the United Kingdom. (1) Brown was the first and only non-British writer to be appointed to the Fellowship, taking up the post in October 1974. Following the award of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize he was brought to the attention of Arthur Ravenscroft, editor of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, by Kenneth Ramchand at Ravenscroft's instigation, he was approached and offered the Fellowship by Professor A. He won the Jamaican Independence Festival Poetry Prize in 1968, and in 1973 won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for his first collection, On the Coast (1972).īrown's candidature for the Gregory Fellowship appears to have been prompted by the success of On the Coast. After attending school at St Mary's College, Port of Spain, he read English at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica from 1965 to 1968, and also attended the University of Toronto. He won the Jamaican Independence Festival Poetry Prize in 1968, and in 1973 won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for his first collection, On th Wayne Vincent Brown was born on 18 July 1944 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Wayne Vincent Brown was born on 18 July 1944 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
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