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Biographical Essay
By Tamika Jackson
Merle Collins was born on September 29, 1950 to John and Helena Collins on the tiny island of Grenada in the Caribbean. She completed her primary education and later attended St. Joseph's Convent High School in St. George's, Grenada. Collins attributes most of her writing philosophy to her childhood in Grenada, where she intertwined the concepts of oratorical media with the formal art of writing. With the idea of obtaining a higher education, Collins enrolled at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, where she later received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and in Spanish. After graduating in 1972, she returned to her high school, St. Joseph's Convent, where she taught History and Spanish for the next two years.
In 1974 she relocated to St. Lucia where she began teaching English and Spanish at Castries Comprehensive Secondary School. In the following years she would also teach Spanish and English at McDonald College in Grenada. Collins received her Master's Degree in 1980, from Georgetown University in the area of Latin American Studies. In 1981, she served as a coordinator for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean for the Government of Grenada. During her time as a research coordinator, her first works were published in an anthology entitled Callaloo: A Grenada Anthology (World Books 1984). One year later her first collection of poetry was published. Because the Dawn Breaks (Karia Press 1985) contained many powerful poems, all of which were dedicated to the people of Grenada. In 1985, Collins joined The African Dawn, a musical group which incorporated poetry and African music. While working with the group, she also served as the Writer in Residence at the London Borough of Waltham Forest and did freelance writing and lecturing in England. In 1987, she published her first novel Angel, a coming-of-age story that traces the life of a young woman during the political tensions in Grenada, particularly the United States invasion of the country.
In 1990, Collins began lecturing on Caribbean Studies at the University of North London in England. She also earned her Ph.D in Government from the University of London in London, England. During her five-year stint at the University, she published two more works. Rain Darling, a book of short stories in 1990, and Rotten Pomerack, a book of poetry, in 1992. Her second novel, The Colour of Forgetting, was published in 1995. It was during that same year that she took on the role as Professor of Creative Writing and Caribbean Literature at the University of Maryland in the United States.
Collins has appeared in numerous publications, including Penguin Modern Poets Volume 8 (Penguin 1996) and The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories (OUP 1999), just to name a few. She has appeared on several television and radio broadcasts, and has facilitated many workshops. She served as a reviewer for Ariel: A Review of International English as well as for the Journal of Association of Caribbean Women Writers. Collins has also performed and presented poetry and prose fiction at the Embassy of Grenada, Syracuse University, Bowie State University, the Conference of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers, and the Bette Noir Poetry Festival, among many others. Collins also tried her hand at acting, appearing in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, directed by fellow author Ngugi wa Thiongo.
Merle Collins has truly made her mark in the literary world through her unique style of writing, which often utilizes the Caribbean dialect. Collins continues to teach at the University of Maryland where she still focuses on Literature and Caribbean Studies, as well as Creative Writing.
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