Grace Nichols – Grace Nichols was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1950 and grew up in a small country village on the Guyanese coast. She moved to the city with her family when she was eight, an experience central to her first novel, Whole of a Morning Sky (1986), set in 1960s Guyana in the middle of the country's struggle for independence.
Grace Nichols – Grace Nichols was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1950 and grew up in a small country village on the Guyanese coast. She moved to the city with her family when she was eight, an experience central to her first novel, Whole of a Morning Sky (1986), set in 1960s Guyana in the middle of the country's struggle for independence.
She worked as a teacher and journalist and, as part of a Diploma in Communications at the University of Guyana, spent time in some of the most remote areas of Guyana, a period that influenced her writings and initiated a strong interest in Guyanese folk tales, Amerindian myths and the South American civilisations of the Aztec and Inca. She has lived in the UK since 1977.
Her first poetry collection, I is a Long-Memoried Woman, was published in 1983. The book won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and a subsequent film adaptation of the book was awarded a gold medal at the International Film and Television Festival of New York. The book was also dramatised for radio by the BBC. Subsequent poetry collections include The Fat Black Woman's Poems (1984), Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Woman (1989), and Sunris (1996). She also writes books for children, inspired predominantly by Guyanese folklore and Amerindian legends, including Come on into My Tropical Garden (1988) and Give Yourself a Hug (1994). Everybody Got A Gift (2005) includes new and selected poems, and her collection, Startling the Flying Fish (2006), contains poems which tell the story of the Caribbean.
Her latest books are Picasso, I Want My Face Back (2009); and I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems (2010).
Grace Nichols lives in England with her partner, the poet John Agard.
Bibliography
- Trust You, Wriggly Hodder & Stoughton, 1981
- Baby Fish and other Stories Published privately, 1983
- I is a Long-Memoried Woman Caribbean Cultural International, 1983
- Leslyn in London Hodder & Stoughton, 1984
- The Fat Black Woman's Poems Virago, 1984
- A Dangerous Knowing: Four Black Women Poets (Barbara Burford, Gabriela Pearse, Grace Nichols, Jackie Kay) Sheba, 1985
- The Discovery Macmillan, 1986
- Whole of a Morning Sky Virago, 1986
- Black Poetry (editor) Blackie, 1988
- Come on into My Tropical Garden A. & C. Black, 1988
- Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Woman Virago, 1989
- Poetry Jump Up (editor) Penguin, 1990
- Can I Buy a Slice of Sky?: Poems from Black, Asian and American Indian Cultures (editor) Blackie, 1991
- No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock: A Collection of Caribbean Nursery Rhymes (with John Agard) Viking, 1991
- Quartet of Poems (contributor) Addison Wesley Longman, 1993
- A Caribbean Dozen: Poems from Caribbean Poets (editor with John Agard) Walker Books, 1994
- Give Yourself a Hug A. & C. Black, 1994
- Penguin Modern Poets Volume 8 (Jackie Kay, Merle Collins and Grace Nichols) Penguin, 1996
- Sunris Virago, 1996
- Asana and the Animals: A Book of Pet Poems Walker Books, 1997
- We Couldn't Provide Fish Thumbs (contributor) Pan, 1997
- The Poet Cat Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2000
- From Mouth to Mouth (editor with John Agard; illustrated by Annabel Wright) Walker Books, 2004
- Paint Me A Poem: New Poems Inspired by Art in the Tate A. & C. Black, 2004
- Everybody Got a Gift A. & C. Black, 2005
- Startling the Flying Fish Virago, 2006
- Picasso, I Want My Face Back Bloodaxe, 2009
- I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems Bloodaxe, 2010
Prizes and awards
- 1983 Commonwealth Poetry Prize I is a Long-Memoried Woman
- 1986 Arts Council Writers' Award
- 1996 Guyana Poetry Prize Sunris
- 2000 Cholmondeley Award
