Frank Collymore

Frank Appleton Collymore (January 7, 1893 - July 17, 1980) was a famous Barbadian author, poet, stage performer and painter. His nickname was "Barbadian Man of the Arts".

He was born at Woodville Cottage, Chelsea Road, Saint Michael, Barbados (where he lived all his life). Aside from being a student at Combermere School (from 1903 until 1910), he was also one of its staff members until his retirement in 1958, up to which point he was its Deputy Headmaster. After this, he often returned to teach until 1963.

On the stage, he became a member of the "Bridgetown Players", which began in 1942.

As an artist, he made many drawings and paintings to illustrate his own writings. He called them "Collybeasts" or "Collycreatures".

In 1942, he began the famous Caribbean literary magazine, "BIM" (published four times a year), for which he is most well-known, and was also an editor until 1975.

Three Literary Awards have been named after him.

Collymore's works

*"BIM" (magazine, 1942-1975)
*"Thirty Poems" (1944)
*"Beneath the Casuarinas" (1945)
*"Flotsam" (1948)
*"Collected Poems" (1959)
*"Rhymed Ruminations on the Fauna of Barbados" (1968)
*"Notes for a Glossary of Words and Phrases of Barbadian Dialect" (1970)
*"Selected Poems" (1971)
*"The Man Who Loved Attending Funerals and Other Stories" (1993) (published posthumously)
*"Day's End" (Year Unknown)

Awards

*Order of the British Empire - 1958
*University of the West Indies M.A. - 1968
*Savacou: A Journal of the Caribbean Artists Movement (January/June), ed. Edward Kamau Brathwaite, dedicated "A Tribute to Frank Collymore" (1973)
*Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal - 1977

ee also

*George Lamming, another famous Barbadian author.

External links

*" [http://www.meppublishers.com/online/caribbean-beat/archive/article.php?issue=65&id=cb65-1-76 The man who loved to have fun] " by Phillip Nanton, "BWIA Caribbean Beat", January/February 2004.
* [http://www.fch.org.bb/ The Frank Collymore Hall] (most of the content above is taken from Collymore's biography at this site)