Kwame Dawes, a professor of literary arts, has officially begun his three-year term as Jamaica’s fourth poet laureate. His appointment marks a commitment to fostering a greater appreciation for Jamaican poetry and cultural heritage.
Dawes was first approached by the National Library of Jamaica about the role in early 2024. At the time, he was a professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I agreed right away, fully honored and touched by the fact that the country that has shaped me as an artist and a human being was going to honor me in this manner,” Dawes wrote in an email to The Herald.
Dawes, who started teaching at Brown University in fall 2024, has an extensive literary career, with more than 30 published works spanning poetry, fiction, plays, and essays.
His multimedia project on HIV/AIDS in Jamaica, LiveHopeLove.com, won an Emmy Award in 2009. He has also been honored with the Forward Prize for Poetry, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and several other prestigious awards.
Born in Ghana to a Ghanaian father and a Jamaican mother, Dawes moved to Jamaica as a child. He later studied in Jamaica before pursuing graduate education in Canada and eventually working in the United States. Despite living abroad, he has remained deeply connected to Jamaica’s literary and cultural scene.
“I am proud of being a Jamaican,” Dawes wrote. “I consider this an opportunity to serve Jamaica and to promote and celebrate poetry in Jamaica.”
A Role to Inspire a Nation
As poet laureate, Dawes is responsible for increasing public engagement with poetry. His duties include promoting poetry as an art form, fostering youth appreciation for poetry, and preserving Jamaica’s literary heritage, according to the National Library of Jamaica.
The poet laureate is nominated by the public, and selections are made by a committee. Dawes officially took on the role during an inauguration ceremony in Kingston on Jan. 22.
The event, he said, “was full of all the appropriate pomp and ceremony that speaks to the seriousness with which the country views this position.”
“There is something profoundly civilized about a country that values its poets in this manner,” he added.
A Literary Legacy
Matthew Shenoda, chair of Brown’s Department of Literary Arts, expressed his excitement about Dawes’s appointment.
“Dawes is one of the most prolific and renowned writers of his generation who has worked tirelessly to promote the works of African, Caribbean, and African American poets across the globe,” Shenoda wrote in an email.
Dawes has played a key role in mentoring writers in Jamaica and beyond, particularly through his involvement in the African Poetry Book Fund since 2012.
Students at Brown are also benefiting from his expertise. Sehee Oh ’26, who is taking Dawes’s course Generative Poetry Workshop, discovered his poet laureate title only after enrolling.
“He did not tell any of us about it,” she said. “I honestly don’t think he wants to make a big deal of it.”
Shenoda praised Dawes for his ability to “render the fullness of people in his work,” describing him as a writer with a “keenly lyrical and human intimacy” that extends beyond his poetry into his personal interactions.
As he embarks on his tenure as poet laureate, Dawes is poised to leave a lasting impact on Jamaica’s literary landscape, inspiring new generations to engage with poetry and storytelling.
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