Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based

dub poet Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, which evolved out of dub music in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1970s,

and activist. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the

Penguin Modern Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Wester ...

series. His

performance poetry Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe p ...

involves the recitation of his own verse in

Jamaican patois Jamaican Patois (; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with West African influences, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora. A majority of the non-English ...

over dub-

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, usually written in collaboration with reggae producer/artist

Dennis Bovell Dennis Bovell (born 22 May 1953Huey, Steve"Dennis Bovell Biography" Allmusic. Retrieved 27 December 2014.) is a Barbados-born reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer, based in England. He was a member of the British reggae band Mat ...

Early life

Johnson was born in Chapelton, a small town in the rural parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. His middle name, "Kwesi", is a Ghanaian name that is given to boys who, like Johnson, are born on a Sunday. In 1963 he and his father came to live in

Brixton, London Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th cent ...

, joining his mother, who had immigrated to Britain as part of the Windrush generation shortly before Jamaican independence in 1962. Johnson attended Tulse Hill School in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area e ...

. While still at school he joined the British Black Panther Movement, helped to organise a poetry workshop within the movement, and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers. Johnson studied sociology at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the ...

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...

, London, graduating in 1973.Larkin, Colin (1998), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, , pp. 147–148. Speaking in a 2018 interview about his start as a poet, he said: "I began to write verse, not only because I liked it, but because it was a way of expressing the anger, the passion of the youth of my generation in terms of our struggle against racial oppression. Poetry was a cultural weapon in the black liberation struggle, so that's how it began." During the early to mid-1970s he was employed as the first paid library resources and education officer at the

Keskidee Centre The Keskidee Centre, or Keskidee Arts Centre, was Britain's first arts centre for the black community, founded in 1971.Lindsay Barrett, with music by the reggae group Rasta Love. Johnson has recalled: "it was fantastic, you know, having written something and having it staged with actors and musicians. That was back in 1973 before I had a poem published anywhere. That was before anyone had ever heard of Linton Kwesi Johnson." Johnson wrote for ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', and ''Black Music'' in the 1970s. As a freelancer for

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

he wrote biographies for their reggae artists, sleeve notes and copy for adverts.

Career

Poetry

Most of Johnson's poetry is political, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an

African-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

in Britain: "Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon...", he told an interviewer in 2008. However, he has also written about other issues, such as British foreign policy and the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach. Johnson wrote "Reggae fi Dada" on the death of his father in 1982, blaming social conditions. His most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

. The poems contain graphic accounts of the racist police brutality occurring at the time (cf. "Sonny's Lettah"). Johnson's poetry makes clever use of the unstandardised transcription of Jamaican patois. Johnson's poems first appeared in the journal '' Race Today'', which published his first collection of poetry, ''Voices of the Living and the Dead'', in 1974. ''Dread Beat An' Blood'', his second collection, was published in 1975 by Bogle-L'Ouverture. A collection of his poems has been published as ''Mi Revalueshanary Fren'' by

. Johnson is one of only three poets to be published by Penguin Modern Classics while still alive.

Music

Johnson's best-known albums include his debut ''

Dread Beat an' Blood ''Dread Beat an' Blood'' is the debut album by Poet and the Roots released in 1978 on the Front Line label. It was produced by Vivian Weathers and Linton Kwesi Johnson. The "Poet" is dub poet Johnson and "the Roots" are Dennis Bovell, Lloyd "Ja ...

'' (1978), '' Forces of Victory'' (1979), '' Bass Culture'' (1980), ''

LKJ in Dub ''LKJ in Dub'' is an album by the Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1980 on Island Records. It was produced by Dennis Bovell (credited as Blackbeard). It contains dub versions of tracks from the two previous ...

'' (1980), and '' Making History'' (1983). Across them are spread classics of the dub poetry school of performance – and of reggae itself – such as "Dread Beat An' Blood", "Sonny's Lettah", "Inglan Is A Bitch", "Independent Intavenshan" and "All Wi Doin Is Defendin". His poem ''Di Great Insohreckshan'' is his response to the

1981 Brixton riot The 1981 Brixton riot, or Brixton uprising, was a series of clashes between mainly black youths and the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, London, between 10 and 12 April 1981.J. A. Cloake & M. R. Tudor. ''Multicultural Britain''. Oxford Unive ...

s. The work was the subject of a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

programme in 2007. Johnson's work, allied to the Jamaican " toasting" tradition, is regarded as an essential precursor of rap. Johnson's record label LKJ Records, launched in 1981, is home to other reggae artists, some of whom made up the Dub Band, with whom Johnson mostly recorded, and other dub poets, such as Jean "Binta" Breeze. Past releases on the label include recordings by

Mikey Smith Michael Smith, usually referred to as Mikey Smith (14 September 1954 – 17 August 1983), was a Jamaican dub poet. Along with Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Mutabaruka, he was one of the best-known dub poets. In 1978, Smith represented Jamaica at ...

Awards and honours

Johnson received a C. Day-Lewis Fellowship in 1977, and that year became writer-in-residence for the

London Borough of Lambeth Lambeth () is a London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London is at Frazier S ...

.Sharmilla Beezmohun
"Linton Kwesi Johnson"
''Enciclopedia de Estudios Afroeuropeos''. He was made an Associate Fellow of

Warwick University , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

in 1985 and an Honorary Fellow of

Wolverhampton Polytechnic The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mech ...

in 1987, and in 1990 received an award at the XIII Premio Internazionale Ultimo Novecento from the city of

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...

for his contribution to poetry and popular music. In 1998 he was awarded the Premio Piero Ciampi Citta di Livorno Concorso Musicale Nazionale in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. In 2003 Johnson was bestowed with an honorary fellowship from his alma mater, Goldsmiths College, University of London. In 2004 he became an Honorary Visiting Professor of

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...

in London. In 2005 he was awarded a silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry. In 2012, he was awarded the Golden PEN Award by

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associat ...

for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". He is a Trustee of the

George Padmore Institute The George Padmore Institute (GPI), founded in 1991 in Stroud Green Road, North London, by John La Rose (1927–2006) and a group of political and cultural activists connected to New Beacon Books,New Beacon Books, 1999). In August 2014 it was announced that he would receive the Jamaican national honour of the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') ...

in October that year. On 20 April 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt.) by

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public research university located in Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the province's oldest ...

in South Africa. In July 2020 Johnson was awarded the

PEN Pinter Prize The PEN Pinter Prize and the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award both comprise an annual literary award launched in 2009 by English PEN in honour of the late Nobel Literature Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, who had been a Vice Pre ...

– established in

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

's name to defend freedom of expression and celebrate literature – for his commitment to political expression in his work. Announcing the award, the judges described Johnson as "a living legend", "a poet, reggae icon, academic and campaigner, whose impact on the cultural landscape over the last half century has been colossal and multi-generational.... His political ferocity and his tireless scrutiny of history are truly Pinteresque, as is the humour with which he pursues them." Johnson is chair of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, an art gallery and learning institution in Brixton.

Bibliography

* ''Voices of the Living and the Dead'' – Creation for Liberation, 1974. * ''Dread Beat An' Blood'' – Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, 1975. * ''Inglan is a Bitch'' – Race Today, 1980. * ''Tings An' Times'' –

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

, 1991. * ''Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems'' –

, 2002; 2006.

Discography

* ''

'' – Virgin, 1978 (as

Poet and the Roots Poet and the Roots are a reggae band formed to record dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson's poems with dub backing tracks. The recordings were on the Virgin Records label.

). * '' Forces of Victory'' – Island, 1979. * '' Bass Culture'' – Island, 1980. * ''The Best of Linton Kwesi Johnson – Epic'', 1980 (compilation). * ''

'' – Island, 1980. * '' Making History'' – Island, 1983. * ''Reggae Greats'' – Mango, 1984 (compilation). * ''In Concert with the Dub Band'' – LKJ Records, 1985. * ''Dub Poetry'' – Mango, 1985 (compilation). * '' Tings an' Times'' – LKJ Records, 1991. * ''LKJ in Dub: Volume 2'' – LKJ Records, 1992. * ''LKJ Presents'' – LKJ Records, 1996. * '' A Cappella Live'' – LKJ Records, 1996. * ''Independent Intavenshan'' – Island, 1998 (compilation). * ''More Time'' – LKJ Records, 1999. * ''LKJ in Dub: Volume 3'' – LKJ Records, 2002. * ''Straight to Inglan's Head'' – Universal, 2003 (compilation). * ''Live in Paris'' – Wrasse, 2004.

References

External links

LKJ Records
– News, releases, tour dates, etc. * includes a "Critical Perspective" section
''Spike Magazine'' interview

Interview with Yuri Prasad
in ''Socialist Review'' (2002)
"Linton Kwesi Johnson"
The Poetry Archive
"Linton Kwesi Johnson performs If I Woz a Tap Natch Poet"
''The Guardian'', 11 December 2008.
Discography
at Discogs
"Poetic justice: black lives and the power of poetry"
''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', 28 June 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Linton Kwesi 1952 births Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Black British musicians Black British writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 20th-century British poets 21st-century British poets 21st-century British male writers British reggae musicians People from Clarendon Parish, Jamaica Jamaican dub poets Jamaican male writers Island Records artists Wrasse Records artists Recipients of the Musgrave Medal Living people British spoken word artists British male poets Recipients of the Order of Distinction 20th-century British male writers