Stewart Brown Biography

British poet and editor, born in Southampton, educated at Sussex University and University College, Aberystwyth. After teaching at schools and colleges in Britain, Jamaica, and Nigeria, he became a lecturer at the Centre for West African Studies in the University of Birmingham in 1988. Brown published numerous pamphlets before the appearance of Zinder (1986), his first substantial collection of poetry; the title poem, an incisive critique of post-colonial French North Africa, displays his characteristic ability to write from the intersection of personal experience and broad socio-cultural concerns. Lugard's Bridge (1989) frequently employs a fiercely sardonic wit in communicating his highly informed view of the shabby legacy of imperialism in Nigeria. The collection, which was widely acclaimed, also features disarmingly direct poems of familial affection and some radically experimental writing. Brown's extensive work as an editor includes the anthologies Caribbean Poetry Now (1984) and Writers from Africa (1989); The Art of Derek Walcott (1991), a collection of essays; and The Art of E. K. Brathwaite (1994).