- Valerie Bloom
Valerie Bloom MBE (born 1956) is a
poet and anovelist . [ [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/profile/?p=auth5688A7141b5e91870DnSn41C93D2 Valerie Bloom ] ] [ [http://www.bloomsbury.com/childrens/microsite.asp?section=3&id=61 Bloomsbury.com - Children's Authors ] ] [ [http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/adult_resources/creative_writing/poems/valerie_bloom/index.html Valerie Bloom - Victoria and Albert Museum ] ]Early years
She was born in
Clarendon, Jamaica in 1956 and later moved toEngland in 1979. [ [http://www.panmacmillan.com/authors%20Illustrators/displayPage.asp?PageTitle=Individual%20Contributor&ContributorID=70390&RLE=Author Valerie Bloom ] ] She attended the University of Kent at Canterbury from 1982 to 1984 and earned an honors degree, and was later awarded an honoraryMasters degree . She currently lives inKent .She was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.Her works
She has published several collections [ [http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1692 Valerie Bloom - Poetry Archive ] ] , the most recent of which is "Whoop an' Shout!" Her first collection was "Touch Mi, Tell Mi" and this was followed by "Duppy Jamboree", "Let me Touch the Sky", "The World is Sweet" and "Hot like Fire". She has also edited a number of collections including "Many Creeks One River" and "A Twist in the Tale" and her poems have appeared in over two hundred anthologies.
Her first novel was "Surprising Joy" and her latest novel, "The Tribe", was published by Macmillan Children's Books. She writes poetry both in English and Jamaican patois. Many of her performances include a 'crash course' in patois for audience members unfamiliar with the language. She has performed widely throughout the UK and abroad and appeared on many radio and TV programs. In 2005, she made a series of three programs focusing on Jamaican Poetry for
BBC Radio 4 entitled "Island Voices".References
External links
* [http://www.valbloom.co.uk/ Official Valerie Bloom website]
* [http://www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/valbloom.htm Interview with Valerie Bloom]
* [http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=2814 "Granny Is"]
* [http://www.poetryclass.net/lesson5.htm A Journey Through the Senses]
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