Johnson, Linton Kwesi

(1952- )

   Born in Jamaica, LKJ joined his mother in England in 1963, was educated at Tulse Hill secondary school, then studied sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. On being awarded a Cecil Day-Lewis Fellowship, he became the writer in residence for the London Borough of Lambeth for 1977. He worked as the library resources and education officer at the Keskidee Centre, North London, the first home of black theatre and art, and from 1985 to 1988 was a reporter on TV Channel 4's The Bandung File. He is an associate fellow of Warwick University (1985), an honorary fellow of Wolverhampton Polytechnic (1987); honorary fellow of Goldsmiths College (2003), and in 2004 became honorary visiting professor of Middlesex University, London. He was awarded a silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica in 2005 for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry. Some of his poetry publications: Voices of the Living and the Dead, 1974. Inglan' is a Bitch, 1980. Tings An' Times, 1991 (selected poems). Selected Poems, 2006. Some of his poems: "Bass Culture," "Beacon of Hope," "Five Nights of Bleeding," "Mi Revalueshanary Fren," "Reggae Sounds," "Youtman."

   Sources: Antholog y of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry. Keith Tuma, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001. Caribbean Poetry Now. Stewart Brown, ed. Edward Arnold, 1992. Biography of Linton Kwesi Johnson (http://lister.ultrakohl.com/Homepage/LKJ/lkj.htm). The works of Linton Kwesi Johnson (http://www.lkjrecords.com/lkj.html). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Faber Book of Political Verse. Tom Paulin, ed. Faber and Faber, 1986. The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry. Stewart Brown and Ian McDonald, eds. Heinemann, 1992. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse in English. Paula Burnett, ed. Penguin Books, 1986. Wheel and Come Again: An Antholog y of Reggae Poetry. Kwame Dawes, ed. Goose Lane Editions, 1998.