• Source: Olive Senior

      • Olive Marjorie Senior (born 23 December 1941) is a Jamaican poet, novelist, short story and non-fiction writer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was awarded the Musgrave Gold Medal in 2005 by the Institute of Jamaica for her contributions to literature. Other awards she has won include the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Senior was appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica in 2021, serving in the post until 2024.


      Life and career


      Born in rural Jamaica in Trelawny, Cockpit Country, Olive Senior was the seventh of 10 children. She attended Montego Bay High School for Girls. At the age of 19, she joined the staff of the Jamaica Gleaner in Kingston and later worked with the Jamaica Information Service. Senior later won a scholarship to study journalism at the Thomson Foundation in Cardiff, Wales, and as a Commonwealth scholar attended Carleton University School of Journalism in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
      While at university, she began writing fiction and poetry. On her return to Jamaica, she worked as a freelancer in public relations, publishing, and speech writing, before joining the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of the West Indies, where she edited the journal Social and Economic Studies (1972–77). In 1982, she joined the Institute of Jamaica as editor of the Jamaica Journal.
      In 1987, Senior won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for her first collection of stories, Summer Lightning. After Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica in 1988, Senior moved to Europe, where she lived in Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, before settling in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the early 1990s.
      In 2013, Senior delivered the keynote address at the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference: Trinidad, presented by the Bocas Lit Fest in partnership with the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the British Council.
      In 2019, she was awarded the Matt Cohen Award by the Writers' Trust of Canada in honour of her career as a writer.
      At an investiture ceremony on Wednesday, 17 March 2021, Senior was appointed Jamaica's 2021–2024 Poet Laureate.


      Literary works


      Senior has published five collections of poems: Talking of Trees (1985), Gardening in the Tropics (1994), Over the Roofs of the World (2005), Shell (2007), and in 2022 Hurricane Watch: New and Collected Poems. Kate Kellaway writing in The Observer noted in a 2022 review: "Olive Senior – the name itself nudging towards becoming a poem – has an inclusive attitude towards her work and never disdains humble things. She will give full, equal and affectionate attention to mango trees, magpies and even to a Christmas pudding (a recent, gorgeous poem, soaked in rum) as well as to global and racial injustice and environmental issues."
      Senior's short story collection Summer Lightning (1986) won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize; it was followed by Arrival of the Snake Woman (also includes "The Two Grandmothers", which is one of her best short stories) (1989, 2009) and Discerner of Hearts (1995). Her most recent collection of stories, The Pain Tree (2015), was the overall winner of the 2016 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, having won the fiction category.
      Her first novel, Dancing Lessons (Cormorant Books, 2011), was shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize in the Canada region.
      Her non-fiction works include The Message Is Change (1972), about Michael Manley's first election victory; A-Z of Jamaican Heritage (1984; expanded and republished as Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage in 2004); and Working Miracles: Women's Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean (1991).
      Senior's most recent non-fiction book, Dying To Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal, was published in September 2014 – 100 years after the opening of the Panama Canal, 15 August 1914. On 1 April 2015 the book was shortlisted for the 2015 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, winning the non-fiction category.
      An extended critical evaluation of Senior's work can be found in Olive Senior by Denise deCaires Narain (2011), published by Northcote House Publishers (UK) in collaboration with the British Council as part of the Writers and Their Work series.
      Senior's work often addresses questions of Caribbean identity in terms of gender and ethnicity. She has said: "I've had to deal with race because of who I am and how I look. In that process, I've had to determine who I am. I do not think you can be all things to all people. As part of that process, I decided I was a Jamaican. I represent many different races and I'm not rejecting any of them to please anybody. I'm just who I am and you have to accept me or not."
      Her work has been adapted as drama and broadcast by the BBC and CBC, and she also wrote the radio play Window for the CBC. Her writing features in a wide range of anthologies including Her True-True Name (eds Elizabeth Wilson and Pamela Mordecai, 1989), Daughters of Africa (ed. Margaret Busby, 1992), The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry (eds Ian McDonald and Stewart Brown, 1992), Concert of Voices: An Anthology of World Writing in English (ed. Victor J. Ramraj, 1994), The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Tenth Annual Collection (eds Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, 1997), The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry (ed. Jay Parini, 2005), Best Poems on the Underground (eds Gerard Benson, Judith Chernaik and Cicely Herbert, 2010), So Much Things to Say: 100 Calabash Poets (2010), and numerous others.
      Senior's work is taught in schools and universities internationally, with Summer Lightning and Gardening in the Tropics in particular being used as educational textbooks.


      Translations


      Recent translations include: ZigZag, translated into French by Christine Raguet, Geneva: Zoe, 2010; Eclairs de chaleur, translated into French by Christine Raguet, Geneva: Zoe, 2011, Depuis la Terrasse et autres nouvelles (translated into French by Marie-Annick Montout), special edition, Mauritius: L'Atelier d'écriture, 2011; Zomerweerlicht (trans. Marie Luyten), Netherlands: Ambo/Novib, 1991; Das Erscheinen der Schlangenfrau (trans. Wolfgang Binder) Germany: Dipa/Verlag, 1996, and Unionsverlag, 2003; a Book Club Selection, The Berne Declaration, Switzerland, 1996.
      A bilingual (English and French) book of Senior's poetry, Un Pipirit M'a Dit/A Little Bird Told Me, was released in 2014.
      Gardening in the Tropics was translated into Arabic by Mamoun Zaidei, published by NCCAL. KWAIT.2017


      Selected awards and honours


      1987: Commonwealth Writers' Prize, for Summer Lightning and Other Stories
      1988: Silver Musgrave Medal
      1994: Hawthornden Fellow, Scotland
      1994–: Dana Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and International Education, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY
      1995: F. G. Bressani Literary Prize for Gardening in the Tropics
      2003: Norman Washington Manley Foundation Award for Excellence (preservation of cultural heritage – Jamaica)
      2004: Gold Musgrave Medal of the Institute of Jamaica
      2005: Humanities Scholar, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados
      2005: Over the Roofs of the World shortlisted for the Governor-General's Literary Award for Poetry
      2005: Runner-up for the Casa de las Américas Prize
      2006: Shell shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award
      2006: Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council works-in-progress grants
      2011: Dancing Lessons shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize
      2011: Isabel Sissons Canadian Children's Story Award
      2015: OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, winner of non-fiction category
      2016: OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, winner of fiction category and overall winner
      2021: Appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica


      Selected bibliography


      Poetry collections

      Talking of Trees, Calabash, 1986
      Gardening in the Tropics, McClelland & Stewart, 1994
      Over the Roofs of the World, Insomniac Press, 2005
      Shell, Insomniac Press, 2007
      Pandemic Poems, 2021, ISBN 9781777452308
      Hurricane Watch, Carcanet Press, 2022. ISBN 9781800172166
      Short story collections

      Summer Lightning and Other Stories, Longman, 1986. ISBN 9780582786271
      Arrival of the Snake-Woman, Longman, 1989. (Includes The Two Grandmothers). ISBN 9780582031708
      Discerner of Hearts, McClelland & Stewart, 1995. ISBN 9780771080548
      The Pain Tree, Cormorant, 2015. ISBN 9781770864344
      Novels

      Dancing Lessons, Cormorant Books, 2011. ISBN 9781770860476
      Children's literature

      Birthday Suit, Annick Press, 2012
      Anna Carries Water, Tradewind, 2013
      Boonoonoonous Hair, Tradewind, 2019
      Non-fiction

      The Message Is Change: A Perspective on the 1972 General Elections, Kingston Publishers, 1972.
      Pop Story Gi Mi (four booklets on Jamaican heritage for schools), Ministry of Education (Kingston, Jamaica), 1973.
      A-Z of Jamaican Heritage, Heinemann and Gleaner Company Ltd, 1984.
      Working Miracles: Women's Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean, Indiana University Press, 1991.
      Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage, Twin Guinep, 2004.
      Dying To Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal, University of the West Indies Press, 2014. ISBN 9789766404574


      References




      Further reading


      Aiyejina, Funso, "Olive Senior". Self-Portraits: Interviews with Ten West Indian Writers and Two Critics. St. Augustine, Trinidad: University of the West Indies Press, 2003. 23–39.
      Glaser, Marlies, "A Shared Culture: An Interview with Olive Senior". Caribbean Writers: Between Orality and Writing. Ed. Marlies Glaser and Marion Pausch. Amsterdam-Atlanta: Rodopi, 1994. 77–84.
      Pollard, Velma, "Olive Senior: Journalist, Researcher, Poet, Fiction Writer". Callaloo 11.3 (Summer 1988): 478–79.
      Rowell, Charles H., "An Interview With Olive Senior", Callaloo, No. 36 (Summer 1988), pp. 480–490. Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
      Rutherford, Anna, "Olive Senior: Interview". Kunapipi 8.2 (1986): 11–20.
      Savory, Elaine, "Interview with Olive Senior", Wadabagei 8.3 (Fall 2005): 105–112.
      Simpson, Hyacinth, "The In-Between Worlds of Olive Senior: An Interview". Wasafiri 23.1 (March 2008): 10–15.
      Interviews in the Jamaica Gleaner:

      Laura Tanna, "One-on-one with Olive Senior (Pt. II)", 31 October 2004.
      Laura Tanna, "One-on-one with Olive Senior (Part 3)", 7 November 2004.


      External links


      Olive Senior's website.
      Video of Olive Senior Reading and Conversation on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 in the Digital Library of the Caribbean
      "NAW Interview with Olive Senior", New Asian Writing, 15 September 2014.
      "Olive Senior: 'Should Literature Be Political?'" (Video, including eynote speech delivered by Olive Senior at the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference: Trinidad.
      A brief selection of poems by Olive Senior, in audio format and read by her, is available via the website of The Poetry Archive.
      "In Conversation with Olive Senior, Poet Laureate of Jamaica 2021-2024". National Library of Jamaica.

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