Kingston, 8 September 2021 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced plans for a new monument in tribute to the cultural icon, the Honourable Louise Bennett Coverley.

The new monument will be part of a ‘Miss Lou Corner’ to be established at Emancipation Park in St Andrew.

Minister Grange said:
“Miss Lou Corner will feature a life size statue of our mother of culture, but it will be a statue with a difference. It will depict the love and care Miss Lou had for children. She will be in a sitting position with children having the opportunity to literally sit in her lap, while listening to her reciting poems and telling stories.”

‘Miss Lou Corner’, to be established by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport in partnership with the National Housing Trust and Fontana Pharmacy, will be a Jamaica 60 Legacy Project.

Minister Grange made the announcement as she marked the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Miss Lou on Tuesday.

In her tribute, Minister Grange said that Miss Lou "really sensitised successive generations of Jamaicans to the beauty and richness of their mother tongue, music, dance, folklore and heritage; and helped to remove the stigma associated with celebrating Jamaican cultural forms.”

Minister Grange said the Government was working to “ensure that current and future generations are aware of and develop an appreciation for Miss Lou’s significant contribution to Jamaica and our culture.”

In keeping with that commitment, the Government in 2018 established Miss Lou Square in Gordon Town, St Andrew, featuring a life-sized bronze statue of the author, poet, playwright, comedienne, performer, folklorist, social commentator, and children’s champion. It also established the Miss Lou Archive at the National Library of Jamaica in 2019 with information on her life and work. And recently, a mural in her honour was completed at the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica complex in Half Way Tree, St Andrew where Miss Lou hosted her pioneering children’s television programme ‘Ring Ding’ between 1970 and 1982.

The mural is part of a series being done across Jamaica to mark the Diamond Jubilee.

END

Kingston, 12 September 2019 – In an effort to educate the nation on the life and work of the late Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou), Fontana Pharmacy has collaborated with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport to distribute a ‘Miss Lou storyboard’ to over 1,700 schools in Jamaica at the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary level.

Minister of Education Karl Samuda says “I am delighted to receive & disseminate this Storyboard to our schools. It will undoubtedly raise awareness and deepen appreciation of the courage, contribution & conviction of the cultural icon that is Louise Bennett-Coverley.”

Miss Lou remains Jamaica’s greatest and most beloved cultural icon ever. The nation celebrated her 100th birthday on September 7, 2019. In her honour, a storyboard has been created to highlight important aspects of her incomparable contribution to Jamaican Culture.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange both contributed their treasured memories of how Miss Lou portrayed Jamaican culture and instilled national pride. Others such as Mervyn Morris and Tony Rebel, also discussed the impact of Miss Lou’s work on Jamaican and West Indian Culture. Their sentiments are captured in this dedication in text written by Fontana Chairman Kevin O’Brien Chang.

A framed storyboard will also be given to government Ministries, Embassies, Parish Libraries and major Jamaican Universities and Colleges. A downloadable digital version will also be available on the Fontana Pharmacy website: https://fontanapharmacy.com.

END

Kingston, 2 September 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has officially launched Miss Lou 100 — commemorating the centenary of “the mother of Jamaican culture,” the Honourable Louise Bennett Coverley.

Speaking at a Service of Honour and Praise at Coke Memorial Methodist Church in Downtown, Kingston on Sunday, Minister Grange said:

“Miss Lou devoted her life to restore and redeem the language of the mass of the people. Amid great criticism from the well-to-do who now ruled the society, Miss Lou almost single-handedly brought confidence and respect to our Jamaican Language.”

Minister Grange said it was fitting to begin the celebrations at Coke Memorial Methodist Church, where Louise Bennett, at the age of 17, made her first public appearance, reciting a Jamaican dialect poem she had written.

Minister Grange thanked the church for its role in nurturing and showcasing Miss Lou’s talent and urged all churches across the island to participate in the celebration of Miss Lou 100.

Minister Grange said:

“Today, we begin our hundred days celebration of legacy. In this celebration, I am appealing to the church and to our seniors to bring knowledge of Miss Lou and her achievements to our children and young people. It is a part of the heritage transfer expected of the people of God, that we should find ways to ensure that generations to come and those still unborn are brought to knowledge of their culture and heritage by those of us who know the stories of our past. When we fail to do so, our society crumbles into disrepair because of ignorance. It is the responsibility of the older generations to transfer the knowledge of our past to later generations. In all this, the church must play a role.”

Miss Lou 100 is being celebrated over the course of 100 days starting from September 1, 2019.

The celebrations will include the official renaming of Gordon Town Square to Miss Lou Square by Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, on Sunday, 8 September 2019.

END

Kingston, 24 July 2019 (JIS): Jamaica is to celebrate the centenary of Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou) over a period of 100 days, with special activities across the country.

These will be organised by various agencies, including the National Library of Jamaica, the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) and the Bureau of Gender Affairs.

This was disclosed by Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, during her contribution to the 2019/20 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on July 23.

“This year, on September 7, we will celebrate the centenary of our beloved Miss Lou. [She] will be celebrated as social commentator, poet and advocate, and in particular, as chief exponent and proponent of the Jamaican language,” Ms. Grange said.

She also noted that in a tribute to Miss Lou, the Ministry has engaged the University of the West Indies to use the celebration of her life as the catalyst of a national dialogue on the status of the Jamaican patois.

“This will have implication for how patois is positioned in social and official discourse,” Ms. Grange said.

Additionally, the Minister announced that March 21 is to be celebrated each year as National Poetry Day.

She also thanked Jamaica’s National Poet Laureate, Dr. Lorna Goodison, for her work in the promotion of poetry.

END

Kingston, September 10 – The Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, has said that the statue of Louise Bennett-Coverley will serve as an inspiration to many Jamaicans. Minister Grange was speaking at the Unveiling Ceremony in Gordon Town last Friday. 

“It is a great joy for me to see this woman whom so many Jamaicans see as mother, being elevated both physically and psychologically in the minds of Jamaicans. Miss Lou now has a statue to celebrate her and those who pass by will look up to her for inspiration and encouragement as we continue the efforts to achieve sustainable prosperity for our people,”

the Minister said.

Miss Grange said that Miss Lou can be credited for her role in developing the Jamaican culture and for bringing humour to all through her poetry and other works.

“It was Miss Lou who reminded us that “rain a fall but dutty tough”, that even in good times there are hardships. It was Miss Lou who cast worthy amusement on those who would return from abroad with “no likkle twang”, depicting the many Jamaicans we know who only have to spend “few days a farrin” for them to sound more foreign than the foreigner.  It was Miss Lou who brought us closer to that worthy hero of our folk tradition, the indomitable Anancy, emigrating with the rest of us from his homeland in Africa, to use cunning and craft, wit and humour, to overcome the struggles of life caused by a system that sought to devalue and undermine our creative integrity,” The Minister said. 

The installation of the statue is part of the Government’s plan to establish Miss Lou Square in Gordon Town, as a fitting and lasting tribute to the mother of Jamaican culture.

Minister Grange thanked all the stakeholders who contributed to the project, including the residents of Gordon Town, the Member of Parliament, Mrs Juliet Holness, Mayor Delroy Williams and other Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation personnel, Miss Lou’s estate and Jamaicans in the Diaspora, particularly those in Canada and sculptor, Basil Watson.

-END-

Kingston, 30 August 2018 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says all is set for the unveiling of the statue in honour of the Jamaican cultural icon, Miss Lou. 

Miss Lou’s statue will be mounted in Gordon Town, St Andrew where the cultural icon lived before moving to Toronto, Canada. 

Minister Grange says she’s “happy to see this project finally coming to fruition and I thank all the stakeholders, including the residents of Gordon Town, the MP Mrs Juliet Holness, Mayor Delroy Williams, Miss Lou’s estate and Jamaicans in the Diaspora — particularly those in Canada — who have played a role in bringing this project forward.” 

The statue, done by sculptor Basil Watson, will be unveiled by Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness on 7 September 2018 — the 99th anniversary of the birth of the Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverley, OM, OJ, MBE. 

Minister Grange said:

“The installation of the statue is part of the Government’s plan to establish Miss Lou Square in Gordon Town, as a fitting and lasting tribute to this outstanding woman, the mother of Jamaican culture. Miss Lou is well-respected, well-loved, well-revered across the world that I expect that unveiling of her statue in the next few days will immediately position Gordon Town as an attraction in Kingston which promotes community tourism. And I look forward to next year — on Miss Lou’s 100th birthday — when we will complete the development and transform Gordon Town Square into Miss Lou Square.”

                                                                                                                                     -END-