Earl Mckenzie

About Earl McKenzie

I was born 13-11-1943 at Mt Charles in St Andrew. I began writing poetry at Paisley Elementary School. Encouraged by teachers, I continued writing and publishing throughout my future studies and teaching career, and now into retirement with my wife in rural Jamaica. At Church Teachers’ College co-founded a poetry magazine and began combining my poetry and painting. At Manhattan Community College USA, taught Africana literatures. At the University of the West Indies I introduced philosophy in literature, and encouraged the quest for a Caribbean Aesthetic.

Poetry Publications: Against Linearity, A Poet’s House, The Almond Leaf and August Morning (CD);

Short Fiction: A Boy Named Ossie; A Country Boy; Two Roads to Mount Joyful; Ernest Palmer’s Dream; Love’s Last Messenger;

Multi-Genre: A Bluebird Named Poetry (Poetry, Painting Fiction);

Art Exhibition: “Poets of Jamaica”–paintings donated to the National Library of Jamaica;

Memoir: Flame of the Forest;

Novel: The Rooms of His Life;

Academic Philosophy: Philosophy in the West Indian Novel; The Loneliness of a Caribbean Philosopher; and Democratic Socialism and Education in Jamaica (forthcoming).

Honours

 Silver Musgrave Medal;

Lucille Clifton Writer-in-Residence, Alma College, Michigan;

Read three times at the Calabash International Literary Festival;

Shortlisted for Poet Laureate of Jamaica.