Kwame Dawes (Ghana, 1962) grew up in Jamaica and is still artistic director of the Calabash Literature Festival there. He lives in the United States, where he teaches literature. In his poems and essays he connects the history of colonization and the history of Africa with his great love for reggae, and with and his involvement in current dramas such as the impact of the earthquake in Haiti. Dawes also wrote poetry as a journalistic reports on topics such as AIDS in Jamaica and Haiti, work that has won several journalism awards, including an Emmy.

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