Pauline Enriques Sam Sevlon Caribbean Voices 1952

''Caribbean Voices'' was a radio programme broadcast by the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

from

Bush House Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, funded, a ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, between 1943 and 1958. It is considered "the programme in which West Indian literary talents first found their voice, in the early 1950s." ''Caribbean Voices'' nurtured many writers who went on to wider acclaim, including Samuel Selvon,

Edward Kamau Brathwaite The Honourable Edward Kamau Brathwaite, CHB (; 11 May 1930 – 4 February 2020), was a Barbadian poet and academic, widely considered one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon.Staff (2011)"Kamau Brathwaite." New York University, D ...

, V. S. Naipaul,

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem '' Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcot ...

, John Figueroa,

Andrew Salkey Andrew Salkey (30 January 1928 – 28 April 1995) was a Jamaican novelist, poet, children's books writer and journalist of Jamaican and Panamanian origin. He was born in Panama but raised in Jamaica, moving to Britain in the 1952 to pursue a job ...

, Michael Anthony,

Edgar Mittelholzer Edgar Austin Mittelholzer (16 December 1909 – 5 May 1965) was a Guyanese novelist, the earliest novelist from the West Indian region to establish himself in Europe and gain a significant European readership.Michael Hughes, ''A Companion to Wes ...

, Sylvia Wynter, and others.

History

''Caribbean Voices'' evolved out of the BBC’s first programme for Caribbean listeners, ''Calling the West Indies'', launched in 1939 to give West Indian soldiers in the British army an opportunity to connect with family at home during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

by reading letters on air to family at home in the Caribbean.

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

n writer and activist

Una Marson Una Maud Victoria Marson (6 February 1905 – 6 May 1965) was a Jamaican feminist, activist and writer, producing poems, plays and radio programmes. She travelled to London in 1932 and became the first black woman to be employed by the BBC d ...

was hired in 1941 to work on the original programme, and by the following year she had become the West Indies producer, turning the programme, renamed ''Caribbean Voices'', into a forum where Caribbean writing was broadcast. When Marson returned to Jamaica in 1946,

Henry Swanzy Henry Swanzy (14 June 1915 – 19 March 2004) was an Anglo-Irish radio producer in Britain's BBC General Overseas Service who is best known for his role in promoting West Indian literature particularly through the programme ''Caribbean Voices' ...

took over as producer, making an "indelible mark": "Under his editorship, ''Caribbean Voices'' took the form of a creative workshop around the craft of writing, in which writers were offered encouragement and informed criticism. He made it known that he wanted the programme to be filled with 'authenticity' and 'local colour,' reflecting the diversity of the region." Swanzy left in 1955, and on his departure ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' wrote: “West Indian writers freely acknowledge their debt to the BBC for its encouragement, financial and aesthetic. Without that encouragement the birth of a Caribbean literature would have been slower and even more painful than it has been”. During the life of the series, "some 400 stories and poems, along with plays and literary criticism, were broadcast", from some 372 contributors, of whom 71 were women. Notable contributors included: * Michael Anthony *

Louise Bennett Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley or Miss Lou (7 September 1919 – 26 July 2006), was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. Writing and performing her poems in Jamaican Patois or Creole, Bennett worked to preserve the practice of p ...

Kamau Brathwaite The Honourable Edward Kamau Brathwaite, CHB (; 11 May 1930 – 4 February 2020), was a Barbadian poet and academic, widely considered one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon.Staff (2011)"Kamau Brathwaite." New York University, D ...

Neville Dawes Neville Dawes (16 June 1926 – 13 May 1984) was a novelist and poet born in Nigeria of Jamaican parentage. He was the father of poet and editor Kwame Dawes. Biography Neville Augustus Dawes was born in Warri, Nigeria, to Jamaican parents Aug ...

Geoffrey Drayton Geoffrey Drayton (13 February 1924 – 2017) was a Barbadian novelist, poet and journalist. Life Geoffrey Drayton was born in Barbados, and received his early education there. In 1945, he went to Cambridge University, where he read economics, af ...

* John Figueroa * A. L. Hendriks *

Shake Keane Ellsworth McGranahan "Shake" Keane (30 May 1927 – 11 November 1997) was a Vincentian jazz musician and poet. He is best known today for his role as a jazz trumpeter, principally his work as a member of the ground-breaking Joe Harriott Quintet ...

George Lamming George William Lamming OCC (8 June 19274 June 2022) was a Barbadian novelist, essayist, and poet. He first won critical acclaim for ''In the Castle of My Skin'', his 1953 debut novel. He also held academic posts, including as a distinguished v ...

* V.S. Naipaul *

Eric Roach Eric Merton Roach (3 November 1915 – 18 April 1974) was a Tobagonian poet and playwright. He published some early writing under the pseudonym Merton Maloney. Life Roach grew up in Mount Pleasant, Tobago: Between 1949 and 1955, his poetry was f ...

* Sylvia Wynter * Samuel Selvon

Legacy

has described ''Caribbean Voices'' as "the single most important literary catalyst for Caribbean creative and critical writing in English". A key figure in the BBC's Caribbean Service at the time was

as presenter; his programmes "became a glittering showcase for a generation of writers, including Sam Selvon and

, who had made London their second home. Established and aspiring authors were chivvied, cajoled, gently chastised, inspired and schooled to produce new work for radio on the ''Caribbean Voices'' programme over which Andrew Salkey often presided." Other notable writers nurtured by the programme in the 1950s include V. S. Naipaul,

, John Figueroa, Michael Anthony,

, Gloria Escoffery, Ian McDonald and E. M. "Shake" Keane.Philip Nanton
"What Does Mr. Swanzy Want - Shaping or Reflecting? An assessment of Henry Swanzy's contribution to the development of Caribbean Literature"
''

Caribbean Quarterly ''Caribbean Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering studies on the culture of the Caribbean. It is published for the University of the West Indies by Taylor & Francis. It was established in 1949. The editor-in-chief is ...

'', Vol. 46, No. 1 (March 2000), pp. 61–72. Over two hundred authors eventually appeared on ''Caribbean Voices''. Since on radio the poems could only be appreciated orally, ''Caribbean Voices'' helped to influence later Caribbean poetry in having a more spoken form; as Laurence Breiner notes, through the medium of radio "much West Indian poetry was heard rather than seen". Two volumes of poetry broadcast on the programme were compiled and edited by John Figueroa: ''Caribbean Voices'', vol. 1: ''Dreams and Visions'' (1966), and vol. 2, ''The Blue Horizons'' (1970). In 2009, a two-part documentary radio series about ''Caribbean Voices'' was produced by Colin Grant on the BBC World Service."Caribbean Voices"
BBC World Service, 21 July 2009 (archived page).

References

External links

"Calling the West Indies: the BBC World Service and ''Caribbean Voices''"
by Darrell Newton, Ph.D.
''Caribbean Voices'' documentary, Part 1
BBC World Service, July 2009 (BBC iPlayer).
''Caribbean Voices'' documentary, Part 2
BBC World Service, July 2009 (BBC iPlayer).
BBC Caribbean.com
(archived page). {{BBC World Service Anguillan culture Antigua and Barbuda in World War II Antigua and Barbuda literature Barbadian literature Barbados in World War II BBC World Service programmes British Empire in World War II British Guiana in World War II British Leeward Islands in World War II British Virgin Islands culture Caribbean-British culture Dominica literature Guyanese literature Montserratian literature Saint Kitts and Nevis literature Trinidad and Tobago in World War II Trinidad and Tobago literature

History

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links