About the Project
Here’s an opportunity for teachers of many different backgrounds and settings to interact with Caribbean poetry; not just to know the poetry but to feel free to make judgments about the poetry. We also want to show that Caribbean poetry can be enjoyable and fun. Beverley Bryan, formerly Professor of Language Education, UWI, Mona
Launched in 2010, the Caribbean Poetry Project brought together leading poets, teachers, educationalists, scholars, publishers and arts administrators in an exciting collaboration resulting in:
- the development of joint research between the University of Cambridge and the University of the West Indies on Caribbean poetry
- the development and extension of knowledge, understanding and creative engagement with Caribbean poetry among secondary school students aged 11–18
- support for teachers in understanding and teaching Caribbean poetry and raising confidence in tackling it creatively in the classroom
- increasing the representation of Caribbean poets on the Poetry Archive
- expansion beyond Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad into further Anglophone territories of the Caribbean
An international conference was held in Cambridge, 20-22 September 2012, which brought together the project teams from the UK and across the Caribbean as well as drawing renowned poets, academics and practitioners from around the world, providing the opportunity to disseminate research outcomes and focus on the impact of Caribbean poetry in UK and Caribbean classrooms.
CARIBBEAN POETRY PROJECT PUBLICATIONS
Teaching Caribbean Poetry was published by Routledge in 2013. Based on the course jointly devised between the Universities of Cambridge and the West Indies it is edited by Professor Beverley Bryan 
and Professor Morag Styles and includes contributions from the entire project team. The TCP course on which the book was based has been taught in some form in Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Barbados, Cambridge (UK), Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, London (UK), St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago.
Give the Ball to the Poet, an anthology of Caribbean poetry for 11-16 year olds was published in 2014 by the Commonwealth Education Trust and illustrated by Jane Ray.
A Special Issue of the Caribbean Journal of Education on Teaching Caribbean Poetry was published in 2015.