Nearly two decades after releasing the critically acclaimed album Making History, internationally renowned poet and recording artiste, Linton Kwesi Johnson, is now making his own history. On May 2, Johnson's collection of poetry, Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems, will be published by Penguin in their Modern Classics Series. He is the first Jamaican poet and only the second living poet to be published in the Modern Classics Series.
Johnson, who coined the term 'dub poetry', has stuck doggedly to his reggae aesthetic, and his work follows in the footsteps of the Hon. Louise Bennett- Coverley, OM, the mother of poetry written in the Jamaican vernacular. This collection, spanning three decades, is the first of its kind to be introduced into the canon of modern British poetry. To celebrate the publication of his new book, Linton Kwesi Johnson will be embarking on a poetry tour of the United Kingdom from May 9 to August 14.
In this, his 50th year, Linton Kwesi Johnson's alma mater, Goldsmiths College, University of London, will confer an Honorary Fellowship on him in the autumn. This distinction is bestowed only sparingly according to strict criteria, which recognise the contribution made by former students to the College and to the wider outside world, and it is a great honour for Johnson to be accorded such a rare tribute.
To receive review copies of his new book, Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems, please
contact: Victoria Thomas, Penguin Press Publicity, 80 The Strand, London WC2R 0RL, tel.020 7010 3466, email: Victoria.Thomas@penguin.co.uk.
