Louise Bennett

Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley (7 September 1919 – 26 July 2006), known by her pen name Miss Lou, was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, actress, writer and educator. Writing and performing her poems in Jamaican Patois or Creole, Bennett worked to preserve the practice of presenting poetry, folk songs and stories in patois ("nation language"), establishing the validity of local languages for literary expression.

Early life

Bennett was born on 7 September 1919 on North Street in Kingston, Jamaica. She was the only child of Augustus Cornelius Bennett, the owner of a bakery in Spanish Town, and Kerene Robinson, a dressmaker. After the death of her father in 1926, Bennett was raised primarily by her mother. Bennett attended elementary school at Ebenezer and Calabar, continuing to St. Simon's College and Excelsior College, in Kingston. In 1943, she enrolled at Friends College in Highgate, St Mary, where she studied Jamaican folklore. That same year, her poetry was first published in the Sunday Gleaner. In 1945, Bennett was the first black student to study at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), after being awarded a scholarship from the British Council.

Career

On graduating...

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