Grace Nichols

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Grace Nichols is an award-winning poet born in Georgetown, Guyana in 1950. After working in Guyana as a teacher and journalist, she emigrated to the UK in 1977. Much of her poetry is characterised by Caribbean rhythms and culture, and influenced by Guyanese and Amerindian folklore.

Her first collection of poetry, i is a long memoried woman won the 1983 Commonwealth Poetry Prize. She has written several further books of poetry and a novel for adults, Whole of a Morning Sky, 1986. Her books for children include collections of short stories and poetry anthologies. Her latest work, of new and selected poems, is Everybody Got a Gift, 2005. Her poetry is featured in the AQA English GCSE anthology - meaning that many GCSE students in the UK have studied her work.

Grace Nichols lived in a coastal village to the age of eight, then moved to Georgetown with her family. Her life in Guyana and her subsequent move to Britain have both influenced her work. She now lives near Brighton with her partner, the poet John Agard.

For further reading see Sarah Lawson Welsh, 'Grace Nichols' in the 'Writers and Their Work' series(Northcote Press & the British Council: 1996).