Edward Archibald Markham FRSL (1 October 1939 – 23 March 2008), popularly known as Archie Markham, was a Montserratian poet, playwright, novelist and academic. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1956, where he remained for most of his life, writing as well as teaching at various academic institutions. He was known for writing subtle, witty and intelligent poetry, which refused to conform to the conventions, and stereotypes, of British and Caribbean poetry alike.

Life

E. A. Markham was born into a large, middle-class family in Harris, Montserrat, in 1939. He attended the only grammar school on the island, before emigrating to the UK at the age of 17.

150px|leftIn a long itinerant period, he took a Voluntary Service Overseas position for two years (1983–85) in Papua New Guinea, working as media co-ordinator for the provincial authorities in Enga province. aged 68.

Poetry and other works

Although Markham is mainly known for his poetry, he worked in many artistic genres across the years, producing plays, short stories, a novel and an autobiography as well as multiple collections of poetry. He found his first "artistic outlet" in drama, writing and producing a play called The Masterpiece while still at university in the early 1960s. In addition to his creative writing, Markham also edited two important anthologies of Caribbean writing: Hinterland: Caribbean Poetry from the West Indies and Britain (1979) and The Penguin Book of Caribbean Short Stories (1996).

Bibliography

Poetry

  • Crossfire (1972)
  • Mad and Other Poems (1973)
  • Love Poems and Maze (1978)
  • The Lamp (1978)
  • Masterclass (1979)
  • Games and Penalties (1980)
  • Love, Politics and Food (1982)
  • Family Matters (1984)
  • Human Rites: Selected Poems 1970–1982 (1984)
  • Lambchops in Papua New Guinea (1986)
  • Living In Disguise (1986)
  • Towards the End of a Century (1989)
  • Maurice V.'s Dido (1991)
  • Letter from Ulster and the Hugo Poems (1993)
  • Misapprehensions (1995)
  • Fragments of Memory (2000)
  • A Rough Climate (2002), T. S. Eliot Prize shortlist
  • John Lewis & Co (2003)
  • The Selected Poems of Paul St. Vincent and Sally Goodman
  • Looking Out, Looking In (2008)

As Paul St. Vincent

  • Lambchops (1976)
  • Lambchops in Disguise (1976)
  • Philpot in the City (1976)

Novels and short stories

  • Pierrot (1979)
  • Something Unusual (1986),
  • Ten Stories (1994)
  • Marking Time (1999)
  • Taking the Drawing Room Through Customs: Selected Stories 1970–2000 (2002)

Autobiography and travel writing

  • A Papua New Guinea Sojourn: More Pleasures of Exile (1998)
  • Against the Grain (2007)

Edited collections

  • Hinterland: Caribbean Poetry from the West Indies and Britain (1989), editor. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books
  • Hugo versus Montserrat (1989), for hurricane relief, edited with Howard Fergus
  • The Penguin Book of Caribbean Short Stories (1996), editor

References

Notes

Further reading

  • A Festschrift for E. A. Markham (1999), edited by Freda Volans and Tracey O'Rourke.
  • (includes a "Critical Perspective" section).
  • E. A. Markham's page at the Poetry Archive
  • Transcript of his friend Josh Kutchinsky's contribution to his memorial service. Posted 9 May 2008.