Poet Laureate of Jamaica Collection GENERAL

2014-08-04

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Bernadette Worrell

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The Poet Laureate of Jamaica Proclamation 2014 for Professor the Honourable Mervyn Eustace Morris, OM. This proclamation was made public at the Poet Laureate Investiture Ceremony held at King's House, May 21, 2014. The citation was written by Prof. Edward Baugh. Signators were The Hon. K. Wykeham McNeill, Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, The Honourable Lisa Hanna, Minister of Youth and Culture and Dr. The Hon. Carlton Davis, OJ, CD, Chairman, the National Library of Jamaica.

Mervyn Morris was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1937. He studied at Munro College, the University College of the West Indies and, as a Rhodes Scholar at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He worked with the University of the West Indies from 1966 until he retired in 2002 as Professor of Creative Writing and West Indian Literature. He received the Order of Merit in 2009. On April 15, 2014, Professor Emeritus Mervyn Morris, OM, was announced as Jamaica's third and newest Poet Laureate. He will serve in this honorary position for three years. On May 21, 2014, the Honourable Professor Emeritus, Mervyn Morris, OM, was invested with the Poet Laureate of Jamaica Insignia at a nationally recognised ceremony at King's House.