Louise Bennett
Louise Bennett
BIOGRAPHY
September 7, 1919 – July 26, 2006
Louise Bennett was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and attended Ebenezer and Calabar Elementary Schools, St. Simon’s College, Excelsior College, and Friends College in Highgate, St Mary. She received a British Council scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she studied in the late 1940s.
On her return to Jamaica she taught drama to youth and adult groups both in social welfare agencies and for the University of the West Indies Extra Mural Department.
She appeared in leading humorous roles in several Jamaican pantomimes and television shows. She travelled throughout the world promoting the culture of Jamaica through lectures and performances.
Her contribution to Jamaican cultural life was such that she was honored with the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in the field of Arts, the Order of Jamaica in 1974, the Institute of Jamaica’s Musgrave Silver and Gold Medals for distinguished eminence in the field of Arts and Culture and in the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies in 1983. In 1988, she received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from York University in Toronto, Canada. She was appointed Cultural Ambassador by the Jamaican Government in 2001 and was awarded the Order of Merit for her distinguished contribution to the development of the arts and culture.
Louise Bennett was married to Eric Winston Coverley and had one adopted son, Fabian Coverley. She died on July 26, 2006 in Toronto, Canada, where she had resided for the last decade of her life.
MAJOR WORKS- POEMS AND SHORT STORIES COMPILATIONS * Jamaica Labrish * Auntie Roachie Seh * Selected Poems * Anancy & Miss Lou
MISS LOU’S IMPACT ON CARIBBEAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE
* International recognition for Jamaica * International appreciation and acceptance of Jamaican Creole and culture * Appreciation of language, Jamaican Creole, in Jamaica *
BIOGRAPHY
September 7, 1919 – July 26, 2006
Louise Bennett was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and attended Ebenezer and Calabar Elementary Schools, St. Simon’s College, Excelsior College, and Friends College in Highgate, St Mary. She received a British Council scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she studied in the late 1940s.
On her return to Jamaica she taught drama to youth and adult groups both in social welfare agencies and for the University of the West Indies Extra Mural Department.
She appeared in leading humorous roles in several Jamaican pantomimes and television shows. She travelled throughout the world promoting the culture of Jamaica through lectures and performances.
Her contribution to Jamaican cultural life was such that she was honored with the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in the field of Arts, the Order of Jamaica in 1974, the Institute of Jamaica’s Musgrave Silver and Gold Medals for distinguished eminence in the field of Arts and Culture and in the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies in 1983. In 1988, she received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from York University in Toronto, Canada. She was appointed Cultural Ambassador by the Jamaican Government in 2001 and was awarded the Order of Merit for her distinguished contribution to the development of the arts and culture.
Louise Bennett was married to Eric Winston Coverley and had one adopted son, Fabian Coverley. She died on July 26, 2006 in Toronto, Canada, where she had resided for the last decade of her life.
MAJOR WORKS- POEMS AND SHORT STORIES COMPILATIONS * Jamaica Labrish * Auntie Roachie Seh * Selected Poems * Anancy & Miss Lou
MISS LOU’S IMPACT ON CARIBBEAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE
* International recognition for Jamaica * International appreciation and acceptance of Jamaican Creole and culture * Appreciation of language, Jamaican Creole, in Jamaica *