Erna Brodber facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Erna Brodber
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Brodber at the 2015 Zanzibar International Film Festival
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| Born | 20 April 1940 Woodside, Saint Mary Parish, Colony of Jamaica, British Empire
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| Education | University College of the West Indies |
| Occupation | Novelist, sociologist, social activist |
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Notable work
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Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home (1980); Myal (1988) |
| Relatives | Velma Pollard (sister) |
Erna Brodber, born on April 20, 1940, is a famous Jamaican writer. She is also a sociologist, which means she studies how people live together in groups. Plus, she's a social activist, working to make things better for her community. Her sister, Velma Pollard, is also a writer!
About Erna Brodber
Erna Brodber grew up in a farming village called Woodside in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica. She went to the University College of the West Indies, where she earned several degrees, including a PhD. She even studied psychiatric anthropology, which looks at how culture affects mental health.
After her studies, she worked in different jobs. She was a civil servant, a teacher, and a university lecturer teaching sociology. She also did research at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica. During her time there, she collected many stories from older people in rural Jamaica. These stories later inspired her novel, Louisiana.
Later, Erna Brodber decided to leave the university. She went back to her home community of Woodside to work there full-time.
Erna Brodber's Books
Erna Brodber has written five novels. Her first book, Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home, came out in 1980. She then wrote Myal in 1988, followed by Louisiana in 1994. Her other novels are The Rainmaker's Mistake (2007) and Nothing's Mat (2014).
Today, Brodber works as a freelance writer, researcher, and lecturer in Jamaica. She has won many awards for her amazing work. She received the Gold Musgrave medal three times! The Institute of Jamaica gave her one for her literature. The Jamaican government honored her for her community work. And the government of the Netherlands gave her an award for her work in literature and orature (oral traditions). She is currently a Writer in Residence at the University of the West Indies.
Her Unique Writing Style
Erna Brodber is trained as a sociologist and has written many papers about Jamaican society. In her novels, she often focuses on ways of understanding the world that are not from Western cultures. She challenges traditional ways of thinking and tries to bring back myths and old traditions. She believes these can help people heal from the difficult past of slavery and colonialism.
Brodber often mixes fantasy and non-real elements with traditional storytelling. She shows how these elements are important for her characters' minds and the world they live in. For example, in her novel Louisiana, she plays with the idea of time. For her characters, time doesn't always move in a straight line. Experiences from the past can mix with those in the present.
Awards and Recognitions
Erna Brodber has received many important awards for her writing.
- In 1989, she won the Caribbean and Canadian regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize for her novel Myal.
- In 1999, she was given the Jamaican Musgrave Gold Award for Literature and Orature.
- In 2006, she received a Prince Claus Award.
- In 2017, she was honored with a Windham–Campbell Literature Prize.
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