Olivia Grange, minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, has expressed sadness at the passing of poet,
Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze.

“She was certainly one of Jamaica’s most outstanding poet, storyteller and cultural activist,” Grange said of ‘Binta’ Breeze, who was born Jean Lumsden, at Patty Hill in Hanover, and died at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston on August 5 at age 65.

“We must praise ‘Binta’ Breeze for her enormous contribution to Jamaican culture particularly in the form of dub poetry.

“She was in fact the first woman dub poet to emerge in Jamaica and took her work internationally where she enjoyed recognition and respect in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.

“The collaborations she shared with other poets, the likes of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Mutabaruka have been regarded as compelling and enthralling.

“Sharing her time between Jamaica and the United Kingdom, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Leicester where she taught creative writing impressed.”

Breeze was awarded Member of the British Empire (M.B.E.) and the Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica to go with the many other awards she received for her outstanding her poetry and storytelling as well as for writing for theatre, television, and film.

“Significantly, her poem, Dreamer, was one of six Caribbean poems selected for display in the London Underground in the summer of 2018 to mark the anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush.

“I express my deepest sympathy to her family, relatives, friends and associates as we say goodbye to Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze whose contribution to Jamaica and the wider world, is worthy of our abiding recognition, respect and gratitude.

“Rest in peace, ‘Binta’ Breeze.”