Valerie Bloom


Valerie Bloom MBE is a Jamaican-born poet and novelist based in the UK.

Early life

Born in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, Bloom moved to England in 1979. She attended the University of Kent at Canterbury and earned an honours degree and was later awarded an honorary master's degree. She currently lives in Kent.

Works

Bloom has published several collections, the most recent of which is The River's A Singer. Her first collection was Touch Mi, Tell Mi, published by Bogle-L'Ouverture in 1983, 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 One River Many Creeks and A Twist in the Tale.
Bloom has written lyrics for world jazz ensemble Grand Union Orchestra, including "Can't Chain Up Me Mind" on their 1989 live show and album, Freedom Calls. The show featuring Bloom's lyrics was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in January 1990.
Her first novel was Surprising Joy. Her next novel, The Tribe, was published by Macmillan Children's Books in 2007.
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 has appeared on many radio and TV programmes. In 2005, she made a series of three programmes focusing on Jamaican poetry for BBC Radio 4 entitled Island Voices.

Awards and honours

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Selected bibliography

Poetry

  • ''Touch Mi! Tell Mi!''

For children — poetry and picture books

Duppy Jamboree Ackee, Breadfruit, Callaloo: An Edible Alphabet, illustrated by Kim Harley Fruits, illustrated by David Axtell Let Me Touch the Sky: Selected Poems for Children When Granny The World Is Sweet: Poems New Baby, illustrated by David Axtell Hot Like Fire and Other Poems Whoop an' Shout: Poems Jaws and Claws and Things With Wings: Poems, illustrated by Matt Robertson Mighty Mountains, Swirling Seas, illustrated by Alessandra Cimatoribus

Novels

Surprising Joy
  • ''The Tribe''

Anthologies (edited)

On a Camel to the Moon, and Other Poems About Journeys One River, Many Creeks: Poems from All Around the World
  • ''A Twist in the Tale: Surprising Poems Chosen by Valerie Bloom''

Guides