The Essay: Caribbean Voices

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The Essay: Caribbean Voices: Kei Miller on Louise Bennett

Kei Miller on Louise Bennett

Caribbean Voices

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Caribbean Voices, Kei Miller on Louise Bennett

A moving recollection of 'Miss Lou', maternal love and Jamaican dialect

The storyteller and celebrator of Jamaican dialect 'Miss Lou' made waves on both sides of the Atlantic. Writer Kei Miller lovingly recalls the magic her words had for his mother.

The poet, folklorist and performer ‘Miss Lou’ made waves on air on both sides of the Atlantic. Coming to study at Rada in London shortly after WWII, her dialect verse was picked up and celebrated on the BBC through radio programmes like Caribbean Voices. For writer Kei Miller, who lovingly recalls the magic her words worked on his mother, she is rightly seen as a hero back home in Jamaica.

75 years ago, the revolutionary Caribbean Voices strand was established on the Overseas Service by trailblazing Jamaican broadcaster Una Marson. Every week for over a decade, it gave exposure on radio to emerging writers from the region such as Sam Selvon, Derek Walcott and VS Naipaul - many for the first time. Delving into the BBC's Written Archives, five writers go in search of five important figures who contributed to the programme throughout the 1940s and 50s, each of whom changed the literary landscape in a different way. The result is part archival treasure hunt, part cultural history and part personal reflection on the people behind a landmark institution.

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