Diversity of voices, diversity of languages : one week of events and readings in Lyon and in the Rhône-Alpes region.
Lorna Goodison
© Bristol
POET-WRITER
Jamaica
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Lorna Goodison is known mainly as a poet. While she originally aspired to be a painter, studying at the Art Students League in New York, she admits she always felt the need to write. In fact, she says one of her goals is to manage to impregnate her writing with painting techniques. After having finally decided to devote herself to writing, Goodison worked in advertising and public relations to earn her living. She also taught at Jamaica College and the St. Andrew School. Goodison published her first poems anonymously in the Jamaican newspaper Gleaner, then under her name in the Jamaïca Journal. She is the author of eight collections of poetry and two short story collections, and in 2007 she published Harvey River, a memoir in which she tells her family’s story. An associate professor at the University of Michigan, she works for both the English Department and the Center of African American Studies, and is also a member of the Jamaican Commission at UNESCO. Goodison divides her time between, Jamaica, Toronto, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sous l'emprise de l'amour is her first book to be translated into French.
