On Thursday, October 22, the George Padmore Institute announced the virtually-shared unveiling of Portrait of Dr. Kamau Brathwaite (1930–2020) by Errol Lloyd at Pembroke College Cambridge in honor of scholar and writer Kamau Brathwaite, who passed away in February. The artist, Errol Lloyd, was a member of the Caribbean Artists Movement of which Brathwaite was a founder. Here are excerpts from the announcement by curator Simon Learmount.

[. . .] Dr. Brathwaite was one of the most influential 20th century poets as well as an important playwright, historian, literary critic and scholar. He was a founding member of the Caribbean Artists Movement, and throughout his lifetime made a significant contribution to discourse on Caribbean literature and culture.

He was awarded the Barbados Island Scholarship in 1949 to attend Pembroke where he studied English and History from 1950. During his time at Pembroke he started to publish poetry and began his association with the BBC’s Caribbean Voices programme. He graduated in 1953 (History) and in 1954 also received a Diploma of Education from Pembroke. He became an Honorary Fellow of the College in 2016, and in 2018 was awarded PEN/Voelcker Lifetime Career and Achievement Award for poetry.

During the unveiling we will celebrate some of Dr. Brathwaite’s many achievements and contributions, listen to some of his poetry and hear from the portrait’s artist Errol Lloyd as well as the Master of Pembroke, Lord Chris Smith. The College will fly the Barbadian flag on the day to remember Dr. Brathwaite.

An obituary for Dr. Brathwaite, outlining some of his many accomplishments, can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/05/edward-kamau-brathwaite-ob….

For full article, see https://www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org/portrait-dr-kamau-brathwaite-being-unveiled-today