Quick Facts
Biography
Amryl Johnson (6 April 1944 – 1 February 2001) was a writer born in Trinidad who lived most of her life in Britain.
Life
Johnson was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad, and moved to Britain when she was 11. She attended school in London and went on to study African and Caribbean studies at the University of Kent. Some of her early poems contained the anger she felt at the prejudice she found in Britain. For a time, she taught at the University of Warwick but generally supported herself by writing and performing. During the late 1980s, she settled in Coventry.
Her work was included in the anthologies News for Babylon: The Chatto Book of Westindian-British Poetry (1984), Watchers and Seeker: Creative Writing by Black Women in Britain (1987), Creation Fire: A CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women's Poetry (1990), Daughters of Africa (1992) and OTHER: British and Irish Poetry since 1970 (1999)
Selected works
- Shackles, poetry (1983)
- Long Road to Nowhere, poetry (1985)
- Sequins for a Ragged Hem, travel writing (1988)
- Blood & Wine, audio recording (1991)
- Gorgons, poetry (1992)