Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley, often known as Miss Lou, was a poet, writer, folklorist, and educator from Jamaica. She was born on September 7, 1919, in Kingston, Jamaica, and passed away on July 26, 2006, in Toronto, Canada. After completing her elementary education at Ebenezer and Calabar, she transferred to Excelsior and St. Simon’s Colleges in Kingston.
In 1943, she entered at Friends College in Highgate, St. Mary, where she studied Jamaican folklore. Her poems was originally published in The Sunday Gleaner in the same year. She was given a scholarship by the British Council in 1945, and she later attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London as the first black student.
She received various medals and awards in recognition of her services to Jamaican literature and drama. In recognition of her achievements, a space in the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada was given the moniker Miss Lou’s Room. Miss Lou’s family contributed photos, audiovisual recordings, correspondence, awards, and other materials about her to the McMaster University Library in order to have portions of the fonds, which cover the years 1941 to 2008, digitized and made accessible online as part of a digital archive.
A few of Bennett’s personal papers are also available in the National Library of Jamaica. The Miss Lou Archives, founded in October 2016, are the repository for previously unpublished images, audio recordings, letters, diaries, and other archival artifacts.
Who is Fabian Coverley?
Fabian Coverley is the stepson of poet, Louise Bennett-Coverley. There is not much information available on his life except for the fact that he is the son of Miss Lou’s husband, Eric Coverley.
