Culture Minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange has expressed sadness at the passing of author, poet and retired senior lecturer, Dr Velma Pollard.
Pollard died on February 1.
“Dr Pollard continued the important work of other female academics including the Hon Louise Bennett-Coverley, OM, who, collectively, set the stage for developments such as the patois Bible, and the reading of news in Jamaican language on some of our radio stations. At my Ministry, I started a tradition of reading from the patois Bible at Easter and Christmas and posting these readings online. Dr Pollard’s work complemented these initiatives and as such, her literary works form part of the first set of documents housed in the Poetry Archives at the National Library of Jamaica, an agency of the Ministry,” Grange said.
Pollard’s publications included From Jamaican Creole to Standard English: A Handbook for Teachers (1994) and a monograph, Dread Talk: The Language of Rastafari (1994, 2000).
In 2013, Pollard released a collection of poetry titled And Caret Bay Again: New and Selected Poems.
Her book Karl won the Casa de las Americas literary prize in 1992.
Pollard’s work always referenced nature, and highlighted the values that nurtured her while growing up as a child in rural Jamaica, in the district of Woodside, St Mary.
Along with her sister, Dr Erna Brodber, also a critically acclaimed author, Pollard organised an annual Emancipation watchnight vigil in Woodside, where members of the community and the wider Jamaica could come and reflect on the significance of Emancipation.
This part of her work, along with the promotion of the Jamaican language was important to the broader movement geared toward repairing the ongoing effects of the system of chattel enslavement to which our ancestors were subjected.
“I wish to express my sincere condolences to Dr Pollard’s family, friends and the staff of the Department of Educational Studies, at the University of the West Indies. May her soul rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon her,” Grange said.
Credit: jamaica-gleaner
