Linton Kwesi Johnson

{{Short description|Jamaican poet and activist (born 1952)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Linton Kwesi Johnson | honorific_suffix = CD | image = Linton Kwesi Johnson (1756331326) (cropped).jpg | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = Johnson in 2007 | birth_name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | other_names = LKJ | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|8|24|df=yes}} | birth_place = Chapelton, British Jamaica (present-day Jamaica) | origin = | death_date =  | death_place = | occupation = Dub poet and activist | instrument = | years_active = 1978–present | alma_mater = Goldsmiths College | awards = Order of Distinction<br>PEN Pinter Prize | website = {{URL|https://lintonkwesijohnson.co.uk/}} }}

'''Linton Kwesi Johnson''' <small>CD</small> (born 24 August 1952), also known as '''LKJ''', is a Jamaican-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002, he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series.<ref name=Jaggi>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/may/04/poetry.books |title=Poet on the front line |last=Jaggi |first=Maya |author-link=Maya Jaggi |date=4 May 2002 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2019-02-20 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.meppublishers.com/online/caribbean-beat/archive/index.php?id=cb62-1-68 |title=(Media & Editorial Projects Ltd) |publisher=MEP Publishers |access-date=13 December 2012}}</ref> His performance poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with reggae producer/artist Dennis Bovell.

==Early life== Johnson was born in Chapelton, a small town in the rural parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. His middle name, "Kwesi", is a Ghanaian name given to boys who, like Johnson, are born on a Sunday.<ref name=Jaggi /> In 1963, he and his father went to live in Brixton, London, joining his mother, who had immigrated to Britain as part of the Windrush generation shortly before Jamaican independence in 1962.<ref name=Jaggi /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=Robert J. |date=1993 |title=Linton Kwesi Johnson: Poetry down a Reggae Wire |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41849496 |journal=NWIG: New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids |volume=67 |issue=1/2 |pages=69–89 |doi=10.1163/13822373-90002674 |jstor=41849496 |issn=1382-2373|doi-access=free }}</ref> Johnson attended Tulse Hill School in Lambeth. While still at school, he joined the British Black Panther Movement,<ref name="contemporarywriters">{{cite web |url=http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth58 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230944/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth58 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |title=Linton Kwesi Johnson {{!}} Critical Perspective |last=Forbes |first=Peter |date=2002 |work=Linton Kwesi Johnson |access-date=13 May 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> helped to organise a poetry workshop within the movement, and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers.

Johnson studied sociology at Goldsmiths College in New Cross, London, graduating in 1973.<ref name="Larkin">Larkin, Colin (1998), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, {{ISBN|0-7535-0242-9}}, pp. 147–148.</ref> Speaking in a 2018 interview about his start as a poet, he said: "I began to write verse, not only because I liked it, but because it was a way of expressing the anger, the passion of the youth of my generation in terms of our struggle against racial oppression. Poetry was a cultural weapon in the black liberation struggle, so that's how it began."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/27/linton-kwesi-johnson-brixton-windrush-myth-immigrants-didnt-want-fit-british-society-we-werent-allowed |title=InterviewLinton Kwesi Johnson: 'It was a myth that immigrants didn't want to fit into British society. We weren't allowed' |first=Decca |last=Aitkenhead |author-link=Decca Aitkenhead |newspaper=The Guardian |date=27 April 2018}}</ref> During the early to mid-1970s, he was employed as the first paid library resources and education officer at the Keskidee Centre,<ref>{{cite news|first=Paul|last=Harper|url=https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/21245354.islingtons-black-history-month-celebrates-keskidee-centre/|title=Islington’s Black History Month celebrates Keskidee Centre|newspaper=Islington Gazette|date=1 October 2011|access-date=30 November 2025}}</ref><ref>[http://www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org/node/188 "Archive Showcase: June", George Padmore Institute], 13 June 2013.</ref> where his poem ''Voices of the living and the dead'' was staged, produced by Jamaican novelist Lindsay Barrett, with music by the reggae group Rasta Love. Johnson has recalled: "it was fantastic, you know, having written something and having it staged with actors and musicians. That was back in 1973 before I had a poem published anywhere. That was before anyone had ever heard of Linton Kwesi Johnson."<ref>[https://friendsofim.com/2020/06/12/refugee-week-2020-2/ "The Keskidee Centre] (produced for "Islington as a Place of Refuge" online tour), Friends of Islington Museum.</ref>

Johnson wrote for ''New Musical Express'', ''Melody Maker'', and ''Black Music'' in the 1970s.<ref name="Larkin" /> As a freelancer for Virgin Records, he wrote biographies for their reggae artists, sleeve notes and copy for advertisements.<ref name=Beezmohun />

==Career== === Poetry === [[File:Linton Kwesi Johnson2.jpg|thumb|Johnson at Coachella, 2008]] Most of Johnson's poetry is political, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an African-Caribbean in Britain: "Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon...",<ref name="Guardian08mar08">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview11 | title=I did my own thing |last=Wroe |first=Nicholas |date=8 March 2008 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=26 May 2014}} </ref><ref name="Sarikaya 2011 161–175">{{Cite journal |last=Sarikaya |first=Dilek |date=Spring 2011 |title=The Construction of Afro-Caribbean Cultural Identity in the Poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41939274 |journal=Journal of Caribbean Literatures |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=161–175 |jstor=41939274 |issn=1086-010X}}</ref> he told an interviewer in 2008. However, he has also written about other issues, such as British foreign policy and the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach. Johnson wrote "Reggae fi Dada" on the death of his father in 1982, blaming social conditions.<ref name=Jaggi /> His most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The poems contain graphic accounts of the racist police brutality occurring at the time (for instance, "Sonny's Lettah"). Johnson's poetry makes clever use of the unstandardised transcription of Jamaican patois.

Johnson's poems first appeared in the journal ''Race Today'', which published his debut collection of poetry, ''Voices of the Living and the Dead'', in 1974.<ref name="Larkin" /> ''Dread Beat An' Blood'', his second collection, was published in 1975 by Bogle-L'Ouverture.<ref name=contemporarywriters/>

A collection of Johnson's poetry was published in 2002 as ''Mi Revalueshanary Fren'' by Penguin Modern Classics, making Johnson one of only three living poets to be published in the series, where his editor was Ellah Allfrey.<ref name=Jaggi />

=== Essays === Johnson's essays, spanning 50 years (1976–2021),<ref name="Mail&Guardian, Pithouse">{{cite web|title=The time has finally come for LKJ in prose |url=https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2023-08-01-the-time-has-finally-come-for-lkj-in-prose/|first= Richard |last=Pithouse|website=Mail & Guardian|date=1 August 2023}}</ref> are collected in the volume ''Time Come'' (Picador, 2023). As described by Colin Grant, "The writing is often flinty and flecked with passion; taut and reasoned, but on the edge of fury. ...the grace and power of LKJ's writing are as necessary as ever."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/09/time-come-by-linton-kwesi-johnson-review-50-years-of-rhyme-and-rage |title=Review {{!}} Time Come by Linton Kwesi Johnson review – 50 years of rhyme and rage |newspaper=The Observer |first=Colin |last=Grant |date=9 April 2023}}</ref> Tomiwa Owolade's review of ''Time Come'' in the ''Sunday Times'' concludes: "this volume emphasises the fact that Johnson is a dedicated cultural critic rather than simply an activist who happens to write dub poetry."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/time-come-by-linton-kwesi-johnson-review-is-inglan-still-a-bitch-rd0bs5dnb |title=Time Come by Linton Kwesi Johnson review — Is Inglan still a bitch? |first=Tomiwa |last= Owolade |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=2 April 2023}}</ref>

=== Music === [[File:LKJ 1980.png|thumb|Johnson on stage in Cardiff, 1980]] Johnson's best-known albums include his debut ''Dread Beat an' Blood'' (1978), ''Forces of Victory'' (1979), ''Bass Culture'' (1980), '' LKJ in Dub'' (1980), and ''Making History'' (1983). Across them are spread classics of the dub poetry school of performance – and of reggae itself – such as "Dread Beat An' Blood", "Sonny's Lettah", "Inglan Is A Bitch", "Independent Intavenshan" and "All Wi Doin Is Defendin". His poem "Di Great Insohreckshan" is his response to the 1981 Brixton riots.<ref name=Guardian08mar08/> The work was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 programme in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06p52c7|title=Poetry Extra {{!}} Poetry of History - Di Great Insohreckshan|website=BBC Radio 4|date=2007|access-date=13 December 2024}}</ref>

Johnson's work, allied to the Jamaican "toasting" tradition, is regarded as an essential precursor of rap.<ref name="encyclopedia.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/johnson-linton-kwesi-1952|title=Johnson, Linton Kwesi 1952– |first=James M.|last=Manheim|website=encyclopedia.com|access-date=30 November 2025}}</ref>

Johnson's record label '''LKJ Records''', launched in 1981,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://poetryarchive.org/poet/linton-kwesi-johnson/ |title=Linton Kwesi Johnson|publisher=The Poetry Archive|access-date=30 November 2025}}</ref> is home to other reggae artists, some of whom made up the Dub Band, with whom Johnson mostly recorded, and other dub poets, such as Jean "Binta" Breeze. Past releases on the label include recordings by Mikey Smith.<ref name="Larkin" />

==Awards and honours== [[File:Linton_Kwesi_Johnson_20171028_B.jpg|thumb|Johnson in concert in Brussels, 2017]] Johnson was awarded a C. Day-Lewis Fellowship in 1977, and that year became writer-in-residence for the London Borough of Lambeth.<ref name=Beezmohun>Sharmilla Beezmohun, [http://www.encyclopediaofafroeuropeanstudies.eu/encyclopedia/linton-kwesi-johnson/ "Linton Kwesi Johnson"], ''Enciclopedia de Estudios Afroeuropeos''.</ref> He was appointed an Associate Fellow of Warwick University in 1985 and an Honorary Fellow of Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1987, and in 1990 received an award at the XIII Premio Internazionale Ultimo Novecento from the city of Pisa for his contribution to poetry and popular music.<ref name=BFA>{{Cite web |url=http://www.blueflowerarts.com/linton-kwesi-johnson |title="Linton Kwesi Johnson", Blue Flower Arts. |access-date=18 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528005439/http://www.blueflowerarts.com/linton-kwesi-johnson |archive-date=28 May 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1998, he was awarded the Premio Piero Ciampi Citta di Livorno Concorso Musicale Nazionale in Italy.<ref name=BFA />

In 2003, Johnson was given an honorary fellowship at his alma mater, Goldsmiths College, University of London. In 2004, he became an Honorary Visiting professor of Middlesex University in London. In 2005 he was awarded a silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry.<ref name=contemporarywriters/> In 2012, he was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature".<ref name=flood2012>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/03/linton-kwesi-johnson-golden-pen-award |title=Linton Kwesi Johnson wins Golden PEN award |work=The Guardian |first=Alison |last=Flood |date= 3 December 2012 |access-date=3 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/golden-pen-award-for-a-lifetimes-distinguished-service-to-literature |title=Golden Pen Award, official website |publisher=English PEN |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=21 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121020544/http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/golden-pen-award-for-a-lifetimes-distinguished-service-to-literature/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Sarah Morrison, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/linton-kwesi-johnson-classridden-yes-but-this-is-still-home-8373870.html "Linton Kwesi Johnson: 'Class-ridden? Yes, but this is still home'"], ''The Independent'', 2 December 2012.</ref> He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-01 |title=Kwesi Johnson, Linton |url=https://rsliterature.org/fellows/linton-kwesi-johnson/,%20https://rsliterature.org/fellows/linton-kwesi-johnson/ |access-date=2025-07-03 |website=Royal Society of Literature |language=en-GB}}</ref>

He is a Trustee of the George Padmore Institute (GPI),<ref>[http://www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org/node/29 "Linton Kwesi Johnson"], George Padmore Institute.</ref> and is a contributor to the GPI's collection of dialogues ''Changing Britannia: Life Experience With Britain'', edited by Roxy Harris and Sarah White (New Beacon Books, 1999).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/apr/26/uksecurity|title=Why Linton is blowing his top |first=Maya |last=Jaggi |newspaper=The Guardian |date=26 April 1999}}</ref>

In August 2014, it was announced that he would receive the Jamaican national honour of the Order of Distinction, Commander Class, in October that year.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-24 |title=Happy birthday, Linton Kwesi Johnson - Awarded PEN Pinter Prize 2020 |url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20200824/happy-birthday-linton-kwesi-johnson-awarded-pen-pinter-prize-2020 |access-date=2025-08-06 |website=jamaica-gleaner.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Poet Profile – Linton Kwesi Johnson – The Jamaica Poetry Archive |url=https://japoetryarchive.nlj.gov.jm/linton-kwesi-johnson/ |access-date=2025-08-06 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

On 20 April 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt.) by Rhodes University in South Africa.<ref name="Mail&Guardian, Pithouse" />

In July 2020, Johnson was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize – established in Harold Pinter's name to defend freedom of expression and celebrate literature – for his commitment to political expression in his work.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/living-legend-linton-kwesi-johnson-wins-pen-pinter-prize-2020-1209956#:~:text=Poet%20and%20reggae%20recording%20artist,political%20expression%20in%20his%20work. |title='Living legend' Linton Kwesi Johnson wins PEN Pinter Prize 2020 |first=Katherine |last=Cowdrey |work=The Bookseller |date=7 July 2020 |access-date=7 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.englishpen.org/posts/news/linton-kwesi-johnson-awarded-pen-pinter-prize-2020/ |title=Linton Kwesi Johnson awarded PEN Pinter Prize 2020|publisher=English PEN |date=7 July 2020 |access-date=7 July 2020}}</ref> Announcing the award, the judges described Johnson as "a living legend", "a poet, reggae icon, academic and campaigner, whose impact on the cultural landscape over the last half century has been colossal and multi-generational.... His political ferocity and his tireless scrutiny of history are truly Pinteresque, as is the humour with which he pursues them."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/07/living-legend-linton-kwesi-johnson-wins-pen-pinter-prize|title='Living legend' Linton Kwesi Johnson wins PEN Pinter prize |first=Alison |last=Flood |newspaper=The Guardian |date=7 July 2020 |access-date=7 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://brixtonblog.com/top-literature-prize-for-linton-kwesi-johnson/ |title=Top literature prize for Linton Kwesi Johnson |website=Brixton Blog |date=10 July 2020|access-date=30 November 2025}}</ref> On receiving the award at a live online event hosted by the British Library in October 2020, Johnson named Eritrean poet, poet, songwriter and journalist Amanuel Asrat as the "International Writer of Courage" with whom he would share the prize.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/newseritrean-poet-and-journalist-asrat-named-2020s-international-writer-courage-1222197 |title=Eritrean poet Asrat named 2020's International Writer of Courage |magazine=The Bookseller |first=Katherine |last=Cowdrey |date=5 October 2020 |access-date=15 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/13/eritrean-poet-amanuel-asrat-named-international-writer-of-courage |title=Eritrean poet Amanuel Asrat named International Writer of Courage |first=Alison |last=Flood |newspaper=The Guardian |date=13 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://brittlepaper.com/2020/10/imprisoned-eritrean-poet-amanuel-asrat-honored-as-co-winner-of-the-2020-pen-pinter-prize/ |title=Imprisoned Eritrean Poet Amanuel Asrat Honored as Co-Winner of the 2020 PEN Pinter Prize |first=Angeline |last=Peterson |website=Brittle Paper |date=27 October 2020 |access-date=15 August 2023}}</ref>

Johnson is chair of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, an art gallery and learning institution in Brixton.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/14247/linton-kwesi-johnson-on-a-lifetime-of-dub-poetry-and-black-activism-serpentine |title=Linton Kwesi Johnson: 'My Generation Changed Britain' |first=Emmanuel |last=Onapa |website=AnOther |date=25 July 2022 |access-date=23 August 2022}}</ref>

==Bibliography== * ''Voices of the Living and the Dead'' – Creation for Liberation, 1974, {{ISBN|978-0950349879}} * ''Dread Beat An' Blood'' – Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, 1975, {{ISBN|978-0904521061}} * ''Inglan is a Bitch'' – Race Today, 1980, {{ISBN|978-0950349824}} * ''Tings An' Times'' – Bloodaxe Books, 1991, {{ISBN|978-1852241681}} * ''Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems'' – Penguin Modern Classics, 2002; 2006, {{ISBN|978-0141186986}} * ''Time Come: Selected Prose'' – Picador, 2023, {{ISBN|9781035006328}}

== Discography == * ''Dread Beat an' Blood'' – Virgin, 1978 (as Poet and the Roots) * ''Forces of Victory'' – Island, 1979 * ''Bass Culture'' – Island, 1980 * ''The Best of Linton Kwesi Johnson – Epic'', 1980 (compilation) * ''LKJ in Dub'' – Island, 1980 * ''Making History'' – Island, 1983 * ''Reggae Greats'' – Mango, 1984 (compilation) * ''In Concert with the Dub Band'' – LKJ Records, 1985 * ''Dub Poetry'' – Mango, 1985 (compilation) * ''Tings an' Times'' – LKJ Records, 1991 * ''LKJ in Dub: Volume 2'' – LKJ Records, 1992 * ''LKJ Presents'' – LKJ Records, 1996 * ''A Cappella Live'' – LKJ Records, 1996 * ''More Time'' – LKJ Records, 1998 * ''Independant Intavenshan''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/10043718-Linton-Kwesi-Johnson-Independant-Intavenshan-The-Island-Anthology |title=Linton Kwesi Johnson – Independant Intavenshan (The Island Anthology) (CD) |publisher=Discogs |access-date=7 July 2024 }}</ref> – Island, 1998 (compilation of the complete Island albums) * ''LKJ in Dub: Volume 3'' – LKJ Records, 2002 * ''Straight to Inglan's Head'' – Universal, 2003 (compilation) * ''Live in Paris'' – Wrasse, 2004

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == {{commons}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928064207/http://www.lkjrecords.com/ LKJ Records] – News, releases, tour dates, etc. * {{British council|id=linton-kwesi-johnson|name=Linton Kwesi Johnson}} includes a "Critical Perspective" section * [http://www.spikemagazine.com/1298kwes.php "Linton Kwesi Johnson : Dread Beat An' Blood : Inglan Is A Bitch"], ''Spike Magazine'' interview by Nancy Rawlinson, 1 December 1998 * [http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=7980 Interview with Yuri Prasad] in ''Socialist Review'' (2002) * [https://poetryarchive.org/poet/linton-kwesi-johnson/ "Linton Kwesi Johnson"], The Poetry Archive * [https://www.theguardian.com/books/video/2008/dec/05/linton-kwesi-johnson-poetry "Linton Kwesi Johnson performs If I Woz a Tap Natch Poet"], ''The Guardian'', 11 December 2008. * [https://www.discogs.com/artist/20702-Linton-Kwesi-Johnson Discography] at Discogs * [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/28/black-british-poets-black-lives-matter-linton-kwesi-johnson-grace-nichols-raymond-antrobus-kayo-chingonyi-malika-booker-vanessa-kisuule "Poetic justice: black lives and the power of poetry"], ''The Observer'', 28 June 2020.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Linton Kwesi}} Category:1952 births Category:20th-century British male writers Category:20th-century British poets Category:21st-century British male writers Category:21st-century British poets Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Category:Black British musicians Category:Black British writers Category:British male essayists Category:British male poets Category:British reggae musicians Category:British spoken word artists Category:Caribbean Artists Movement people Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Harry Jerome Award winners Category:Island Records artists Category:Jamaican dub poets Category:Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Jamaican male writers Category:Living people Category:People from Clarendon Parish, Jamaica Category:Recipients of the Musgrave Medal Category:Recipients of the Order of Distinction Category:Wrasse Records artists