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Wayne Brown Archive

Archive Collection: BC MS 20c Brown

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: Wayne Brown Archive

Level: Collection

Classmark: BC MS 20c Brown

Creator(s): Brown, Wayne()

Date(s): 1911-1980

Language: English

Size and medium: 1 linear metre

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/8445

Collection group(s): Leeds Poetry | English Literature

Description

Comprises: manuscript and typescript drafts of poems collected in Brown's first poetry collection, On the Coast (1972); manucript and typescript drafts of miscellaneous poems by Brown dating to the 1970s; 7 boxes of papers relating to the first part of Brown's biography of the sculptor Edna Manley. The Manley papers include transcript of interviews conducted by Brown with Manley, probably during the early 1970s, concerning her work and life, transcripts and some original correspondence relating to the Manley and Swithenbank families, and research materials for Brown's prologue. Includes two reel to reel tapes.

Biography or history

Wayne (Vincent) Brown, the poet and writer, was born on 18 July 1944 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and educated at St Mary's College, Port of Spain, the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, and the University of Toronto. He held a Gregory Fellowship in Poetry at the University of Leeds in 1975-1976. He won the Jamaican Independence Festival Poetry Prize in 1968, and his collection of poetry entitled 'On the coast' won the Commonwealth Prize for Poetry in 1972. He is equally well-known for his biography of Edna Manley (1975), his edition of Derek Walcott's poetry, and his collection of stories, 'The child of the sea' (1990). His other writings include 'Landscape with Heron', 'Voyages', and 'Bearing witness: the best of the Observer Arts Magazine 2000'. In 1968 he married Megan Hopkyn-Rees, a Yorkshire art student; she has become a renowned Caribbean interior decorator. Edna Manley (née Swithenbank) (1900-1987), the sculptor and founder of the Jamaica School of Arts whose
biography he wrote, was married to Norman Washington Manley (1893-1969), an Oxford graduate in Law who was Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1959-1962, and a national hero as the founder of the moderately socialist People's National Party. Their son, Michael Norman Manley (1924-1997), was also Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1972-1980 and 1989-1992.

Provenance

This collection was deposited in the Brotherton Library via Professor John Barnard circa 1990.

Access and usage

Access

This collection is subject to various access conditions. Please see individual catalogue descriptions for further details on access.

On our website

Wayne Brown

Profile: Wayne Brown

A biography of Wayne Brown a Gregory Fellowship Poet at the University of Leeds. Brown took up the post in 1974.

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