Patricia Turnbull Explained

Patricia G. Turnbull (born 1952) is a poet from Saint Lucia. In 1991, she was awarded the Cedars Prize for Contemporary Poetry.

Life

Patricia Turnbull was born in Saint Lucia. She gained a BA at the University of the West Indies in 1974, and an MSc in English education from Syracuse University in 1986. She has worked as a business communication consultant, a Saint Lucian Creole translator and speech coach, and an English teacher and department chair.^[1]

Turnbull won the Cedars Prize for Contemporary Poetry in 1991.^[1]

Man-made destruction of hillside plants – even before St Lucia was threatened by Hurricane Maria in 2017 – moved Turnbull to write a children's book, Ti Koko and Kush Kush (2018), about an unlikely friendship in a Caribbean garden. At the book's launch, Turnbull called for more community support for literary artists.^[2]

Works

• (ed.) Let's Take a Dip, by Alein O'Neil. Castries, St Lucia: UNESCO, 1984.
• (ed.) Boysie and the Genips, and other stories, by Jennie Wheatley. Kingston: UNESCO, 1984.
• Rugged Vessels: Poems, 1992
• Ti Koko and Kush Kush, Philipsburg, St. Martin: House of Nehesi Publishers, 2018. Illustrated by Reuben Vanterpool.
• Ti Koko and Kush Kush, Philipsburg, St. Martin: House of Nehesi Publishers, 2024 (Second Printing). Illustrated by Reuben Vanterpool.

Notes and References

1. Book: Heather Smyth. Jane Eldridge Miller. Who's who in Contemporary Women's Writing. https://books.google.com/books?id=NOyZs4PRKxEC&pg=PA326. 2002. Psychology Press. 978-0-415-15981-4. 326. Turnbull, Patricia.
2. http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/i-think-we-are-the-most-ignored-local-author-dr-patricia-g-turnbull 'I think we are the most ignored' - Local author Dr Patricia G. Turnbull