Renowned Jamaican poet Velma Pollard has died

Velma Pollard, the distinguished Jamaican poet, fiction writer, and linguist, passed away on February 1, 2025, at the age of 87.

Caribbean culture, has left an indelible imprint on the region’s literary landscape. Born in 1937 in Woodside, Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, to a farmer and a schoolteacher, Pollard developed an early appreciation for literature and storytelling. Alongside her sister, the renowned writer Erna Brodber, she nurtured a passion for the arts that would later define her career. Pollard attended Excelsior High School in Kingston before pursuing higher education at the University College of the West Indies, where she studied languages. She later earned a Master’s degree in English from Columbia University and a Master’s in Education from McGill University.

A career of literary and academic excellence

Pollard’s literary journey began in childhood when she won her first poetry prize at the age of seven. However, it wasn’t until 1975 that she pursued publication, submitting her work to journals such as the Jamaica Journal. Her writing, which includes the acclaimed short story collection Shame Trees Don’t Grow Here (1991) and the novel Karl (1992)—winner of the prestigious Casa de las Américas Literary Prize—garnered recognition both regionally and internationally.