Dorothea Smartt

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(born 1963) is an English-born poet of Barbadian descent.

Biography

The daughter of Caribbean immigrants from Barbados, Dorothea Smartt was born in London, England, and grew up there. She earned a BA degree in Social Sciences from South Bank Polytechnic and an MA in Anthropology from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

(

CUNY , mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind , budget = $3.6 billion , established = , type = Public university system , chancellor = Fél ...

). Smartt was poet in residence at Brixton Market and attached live artist at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. She has lectured on creative arts at

Birkbeck College, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £109 ...

, and

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. She has been poetry editor for ''Sable LitMag'' and guest writer at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florida ...

and Oberlin College. Her work has appeared in various literary journals and anthologies, including ''Bittersweet'' ( Women's Press, 1998), ''The Fire People'' (

Payback Press The Payback Press was a specialist imprint of Canongate Books devoted to (initially) reprints of classic black crime novels, which later branched out into contemporary black fiction. Notable authors included Chester Himes and Clarence Cooper Jr ...

, 1998), ''Mythic Women/Real Women'' (

Faber Faber may refer to: People * Faber (surname) Companies * Faber and Faber (also known as "Faber and Gwyer"), publishing house in the United Kingdom * Faber-Castell, German manufacturer of writing instruments * Faber Music, British sheet musi ...

, 2000), ''IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain'' (edited by Kadija George and Courttia Newland, 2000), ''A Storm Between Fingers'' ( Flipped Eye, 2007) and ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...

'' (edited by Margaret Busby,

Myriad Editions Myriad Editions is an independent UK publishing house based in Brighton and Hove, specialising in topical atlases, graphic non-fiction and original fiction, whose output also encompasses graphic novels that span a variety of genres, including ...

, 2019).Dorothea Smartt page
at Peepal Tree Press. Smart's multi-media play, ''Fallout'' toured primary schools in and around London. She also created and performed the solo work ''Medusa'', which incorporates poetry and visuals. Her poetry collections include ''Connecting Medium'' (2001) and, in 2008, ''Ship Shape'', which is an

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

English Literature title and has been described as "a revisionist work that transforms a legacy of silencing into an exercise of counter-memory, engaging with and expanding its tradition in Caribbean arts." In 2019, she was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

."Myriad authors awarded at the Royal Society of Literature summer party"

Selected works

* ''Fallout'', play (2000) * ''Connecting Medium'', poetry (

Peepal Tree Press Peepal Tree Press is a publisher based in Leeds, England which publishes Caribbean, Black British, and South Asian fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and academic books. It was founded after a paper shortage in Guyana halted production of new bo ...

, 2001) * ''Samboo's Grave/Bilal's Grave'', poetry (Peepal Tree Press, 2007) * ''Ship Shape'', poetry (Peepal Tree Press, 2008) * ''Reader, I Married Him & Other Queer Goings-On'', poetry (Peepal Tree Press, 2014)

References

External links

Dorothea Smartt website

"Dorothea Smartt"
at Peepal Tree Press
"Interview with Dorothea Smartt, Brit born Bajan literary activist, live artist & poet"
Black Looks, 22 May 2014
"A Sense of Denial - Dorothea Smartt"
YouTube video, 2011 * A small selection of Dorothea Smartt´s poems in audio format, and read by her, is available vi
The Poetry Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smartt, Dorothea 1963 births Living people 20th-century Barbadian women writers 21st-century Barbadian women writers 21st-century English poets 21st-century English women writers Barbadian women poets Barbadian women writers Black British women writers Date of birth missing (living people) English people of Barbadian descent English women poets Writers from London