An investiture ceremony will be held for Jamaica’s newly appointed Poet Laureate, Professor Kwame Dawes, at King’s House tomorrow Wednesday (January 22), beginning 10:00am.
The ceremony is being organised by the National Library of Jamaica (NLJ), a division of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.
The ceremony, which will feature the reading of the Poet Laureate’s citation and musical performances, can be viewed live on the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) YouTube channel and on the NLJ’s YouTube and Instagram pages.
Professor Kwame Dawes was declared the new Poet Laureate of Jamaica for the 2025-2028 term, following a public nomination process.
He is a Ghanaian-born, Jamaican-raised poet, scholar, musician and writer of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and plays.
Son of the late Neville Dawes, novelist and former executive director of the Institute of Jamaica, Professor Dawes is currently a lecturer in the Master of Fines Arts (MFA) Programme at Pacific University, as well as a Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University in the United States.
According to an NLJ brief, Professor Dawes is the author of numerous poems, including ‘Sturge Town’ (Norton, 2024), ‘Wheels’ (Peepal Tree Press. 2010), ‘Back of Mount Peace’ (Peepal, 2009) and ‘Hope’s Hospice’ (Peepal, 2009).
In 2004, he was awarded the Musgrave Silver Medal, and was bestowed with the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) by the Government of Jamaica in 2022.
The Poet Laureate Programme is an established programme of the NLJ. Nominations for the Poet Laureate of Jamaica are made by public votes submitted on a prescribed form.
Nominations meeting the stated criteria are then considered by a nine-member committee, with the successful candidate being selected via secret ballot.
