Louise Bennett (Hon)

Culture - Famous Personalities

Monday, 11 September 2006 05:50

25 Jun 05

We Celebrate:
Jamaica's 1st Lady of Comedy
The Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley O.J. M.B.E. Dip R.A.D.A., D. Lit (Hon)

Date of Birth (DOB): 9/7/1919
From: Jamaica
Best Known for: Patios Poetry, Folklorist

Bio: The Hon. Louise Simone Bennett-Coverly is quite possibly Jamaica’s most loved Folklorist, Writer and Artiste.

Louise Bennett was born on September 7, 1919. She is a Jamaican poet and activist, rom Kingston. Jamaica Louise Bennett remains a household name in Jamaica, a "Living Legend" and a cultural icon. She received her education from Ebenezer and Calabar Elementary Schools, St. Simon’s College, Excelsior College, Friends College (Highgate). Although she has lived in Toronto, Canada for the last decade she still receives the homage of the expatriate West Indian community in the north as well as a large Canadian following.

She has been described as Jamaica's leading comedienne, as the "only poet who has really hit the truth about her society through its own language", and as an important contributor to her country of "valid social documents reflecting the way Jamaicans think and feel and live” Through her poems in Jamaican patois, she raised the dialect of the Jamaican folk to an art level which is acceptable to and appreciated by all in Jamaica.

In her poems she has been able to capture all the spontaneity of the expression of Jamaicans' joys and sorrows, their ready, poignant and even wicked wit, their religion and their philosophy of life. Her first dialect poem was written when she was fourteen years old. A British Council Scholarship took her to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts where she was the first black person to be admitted.

Bennett not only had a scholarship to attend the academy but she auditioned and won a scholarship. After graduation she worked with repertory companies in Coventry, Huddersfield and Amersham as well as in intimate revues all over England.

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 has lectured extensively in the United States and the United Kingdom on Jamaican folklore and music and has represented Jamaica all over the world. She married Eric Winston Coverley since 1954 (who died in 2003) and has one son and several adopted children. She enjoys Theatre, Movies and Auction sales.

Miss Lou beams with delight as she greets broadcaster/actor Fae Ellington (right),
shortly after her arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport. (2003 photo-Jamaica Gleaner)

Her contribution to Jamaican cultural life has been such that she was honored with the M.B.E., the Norman Manley Award for Excellence (in the field of Arts) , the Order of Jamaica (1974) the Institute of Jamaica's Musgrave Silver and Gold Medals for distinguished eminence in the field of Arts and Culture, and in 1983 the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies. In September 1988 her composition "You're going home now", won a nomination from the Academy of Canadian Cinema ad Television, for the best original song in the movie "Milk and Honey".

In 1998 she received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from York University, Toronto, Canada. The Jamaica Government also appointed her Cultural Ambassador at Large for Jamaica. On Jamaica’s independence day 2001, Bennett-Coverly was appointed as a Member of the Order of Merit for her distinguished contribution to the development of the Arts and Culture.

September 7 is Miss Lou Day in Jamaica.

Miss Lou is famous for saying: My auntie say it bother her every time she hear people call fi we language, corruption of the English language. But should call the English language corruption of the Norman, French and the Latin and the Greek. What them say, English was derived from. You hear that, English derive and we corrupt. Not na go so. We derive too. We derive.