# Vera Bell

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{{Short description|Jamaican writer (1904–1984)}}
{{Infobox person
| name          =
| image         =
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Vera Zilla Alberta Taylor<ref name="Donnell Lost & Found">{{cite book| last= Donnell | first= Alison | title= Lost and Found: An A-Z of Neglected Writers of the Anglophone Caribbean | publisher= [Papillote Press](/source/Papillote_Press) | date= 2025 |isbn= |url= https://www.papillotepress.co.uk/books/lostandfound/|page=31}} Donnell's book also gives place and date of Bell's birth and death.</ref>
| birth_date    = {{birth date|df=y|1904|06|16}}
| birth_place   = Clonmel, [Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica](/source/Saint_Mary_Parish%2C_Jamaica)
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1984|01|15|1904|06|16|df=y}}
| death_place   = [Middlesex](/source/Middlesex), England
| alma_mater    = [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University);<br/> [London University](/source/London_University)
| occupation    = Poet, short-story writer and playwright
| spouse        = 
| children      = 
| relatives     =
| known_for     =
| notable_works = "Ancestor on the Auction Block" (1948)
| awards        = 
}}

'''Vera Bell''' or '''Vera Alberta'''<ref name=worldcat-ogog /> or '''Albertha'''<ref>{{cite book|title=Who's who in Jamaica ...: A Biennial Biographical Record Containing Careers of Principal Public Men and Women of Jamaica|date=1954 | page=46}} "BELL, Vera Albertha, Journalist & Author: Chief Clerk, Engineering Dept. ... Publications: Several short stories, poems & plays, including the Pantomime 'Soliday and the Wicked Bird', 1943;" is visible in Google search results for "vera bell religious poems" but not accessible in the "snippet view" displayed in Google Books.</ref> '''Bell''' (16 June 1904 – 15 January 1984)<ref>Donnell (2025), ''Lost and Found'', pp. 31, 39.</ref> was a Jamaican poet, short-story writer and playwright.<ref>{{cite web  | title=Salute To Jamaica At Brooklyn Center This Saturday  | work=Canarsie Courier  | url=http://www.canarsiecourier.com/common/common/Arts_Entertainment/37.html  | access-date=3 December 2016  | archive-date=20 December 2016  | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220034550/http://www.canarsiecourier.com/common/common/Arts_Entertainment/37.html  | url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref name=kelley-biog>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cE-tuAkFLbkC&q=%22vera+bell%22+jamaica&pg=PA241 | page=241 | title= Caribbean Panorama: An Anthology from and about the English-speaking Caribbean with Introduction, Study Questions, Biographies, and Suggestions for Further Reading |last=Ferracane | first=Kathleen Kelley | isbn=9780847703210| date=1999 | publisher= La Editorial, UPR|access-date=3 December 2016 | chapter=Biographies }}</ref> Her 1948 poem "Ancestor on the Auction Block" has been anthologized several times,<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cE-tuAkFLbkC&q=%22vera+bell%22++&pg=PA87 | pages=87–89 | title= Caribbean Panorama: An Anthology from and about the English-speaking Caribbean with Introduction, Study Questions, Biographies, and Suggestions for Further Reading |last=Ferracane | first=Kathleen Kelley | isbn=9780847703210| date=1999 | publisher= La Editorial, UPR|access-date=3 December 2016 | chapter=Ancestor on the Auction Block by Vera Bell}} ''Note: Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Donnell|first1=Alison|author-link1=Alison Donnell|last2=Welsh|first2=Sarah Lawson|title=The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature|date=1996|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415120487|pages=155–156|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlulw5fg2zIC&q=%22vera+bell%22+poems&pg=PA155|access-date=3 December 2016}}</ref> although a 2005 review of ''The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse'' says "some of the earlier poems survive only as amusing museum pieces, such as Vera Bell's 'Ancestor on the Auction Block'."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Evaristo|first1=Bernardine|author-link=Bernardine Evaristo|title=Hurricanes' Roar|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/03/featuresreviews.guardianreview20|access-date=3 December 2016|work=The Guardian|date=3 December 2005}}</ref> The poem is described by [Laurence A. Breiner](/source/Laurence_A._Breiner) in his ''An Introduction to West Indian Poetry'' (1998) as "a poem whose crux is the poet's troubled relation to the poet's ancestral subject/object", and Breiner cites [George Lamming](/source/George_Lamming) as placing the poem "squarely at a liminal moment in the process of establishing contact with a previously objectified or fetishized Other".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Breiner|first1=Laurence A.|title=An Introduction to West Indian Poetry|date=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521587129|page=163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgPCIWKRiGEC&q=%22vera+bell%22&pg=PA163}}</ref>

== Life ==
Bell was born in Clonmel, [Saint Mary Parish](/source/Saint_Mary_Parish%2C_Jamaica),<ref name="Donnell Lost & Found" /> Jamaica, and was educated at [Wolmer's Girls' School](/source/Wolmer's_Girls'_School).<ref>{{cite book | last=Hughes | first=Michael | title=A Companion to West Indian Literature | date=1979}} ''Information seen in Google search results display for "ogog vera bell" but not visible in the "snippet view" available in Google Books.''</ref> She worked in welfare after leaving school, and then studied at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) and [London University](/source/London_University).<ref name=kelley-biog />

Bell's 1943 ''Soliday and the Wicked Bird'', staged by the [Little Theatre Movement of Jamaica](/source/Little_Theatre_Movement_of_Jamaica), has been described as "the first original Jamaican pantomime".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chambers|first1=Colin|title=Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre|date=2006|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781847140012|page=135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cFlFhuVMFGQC&q=vera+bell+&pg=PA135|access-date=3 December 2016}}</ref>

Bell had a number of short stories published in the political weekly ''Public Opinion'' and the Jamaican little magazine ''FOCUS'', edited by [Edna Manley](/source/Edna_Manley).  ‘The Bamboo Pipe’ and ‘Joshua,’ were also included in two early edited volumes of short fiction: ''14 Jamaican Short Stories'' (1950) and ''Caribbean Anthology of Short Stories'' (1953) respectively – both part of The Gleaner’s mid-century book publishing series, The Pioneer Press, which [Una Marson](/source/Una_Marson) initially proposed and edited. 

In 1971 she published ''Ogog'' (Vantage Press, New York), described as "An uncommon verse novel charting the rise of a primitive".<ref name=worldcat-ogog>{{cite book|title=Catalogue record for "Ogog"|publisher=Worldcat|oclc = 18583481}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ogog|url=http://antiqbook.co.uk/boox/clearw/BC12323.shtml|website=Antiqbook|access-date=3 December 2016|archive-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925000710/http://antiqbook.co.uk/boox/clearw/BC12323.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>
A writer in the ''[Journal of West Indian Literature](/source/Journal_of_West_Indian_Literature)'' in 1989 said: "Vera Bell, for example, is known for a single much-discussed poem, "Ancestor on the Auction Block" (no one knows her book-length Ogog)."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Unknown|journal=Journal of West Indian Literature|date=1989|volume=3-4|page=11}} ''Information seen in Google search results display for "ogog vera bell" but not visible in the "snippet view" available in Google Books.''</ref>

Bell's "Death of a comrade" was included in the 1989 ''West Indian Poetry: An Anthology for Schools'' edited by [Kenneth Ramchand](/source/Kenneth_Ramchand) and [Cecil Gray](/source/Cecil_Gray_(poet)).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ramchand|first1=Ken|last2=Gray|first2=Cecil|title=West Indian Poetry: An Anthology for Schools|date=1989|publisher=Longman Caribbean|isbn=9780582766372|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPYfAQAAIAAJ|chapter=Contents}}</ref>

In 1981–1982, a 30-minute programme about Bell was broadcast in the series ''First person feminine'' on [WOI-FM](/source/WOI-FM) Radio, [Ames, Iowa](/source/Ames%2C_Iowa), United States, and was recorded on audio cassette by the [Iowa State University](/source/Iowa_State_University) Media Resources Center.<ref>{{cite book|title=Catalogue record for "First person feminine: Second series"|publisher=Worldcat| oclc=80689735 }}</ref>

The Vera Bell Prize for Poetry, part of the Young Black Writers Awards, was won in 1985 by [Maud Sulter](/source/Maud_Sulter) for her work ''As a Blackwoman''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Maud Sulter (1960 - 2008)|url=http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/maud-sulter|publisher=Scottish Poetry Library|access-date=3 December 2016}}</ref>

Jamaican Prime Minister [Portia Simpson Miller](/source/Portia_Simpson_Miller) ended her 1 August 2014 [Emancipation Day](/source/Emancipation_Day) Message with the words "Poet Vera Bell’s words ring true:" and excerpts from "Ancestor on the Auction Block" ending with its last line "Mine be the task to build", adding: "Build we can… build we must… build we shall! This is Jamaica, our Jamaica, Land we love. I thank you."<ref>{{cite web|last1=OPM Communications Unit|title=Emancipation Day Message 2014 by Prime Minister the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller|url=http://jis.gov.jm/emancipation-day-message-2014-prime-minister-hon-portia-simpson-miller-2/|publisher=Jamaican Information Service|access-date=3 December 2016}}</ref>

Vera Bell died on 15 January 1984, in [Middlesex](/source/Middlesex), England.<ref>Donnell (2025), ''Lost and Found'', p. 39.</ref>

Bell's daughter Patsy was married to Gerry German (1928–2012), headmaster of [Manchester High School](/source/Manchester_High_School%2C_Jamaica) in [Mandeville](/source/Mandeville%2C_Jamaica), Jamaica, and a political activist.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Girvan|first1=Norman|author-link=Norman Girvan|title=Tribute to Gerry German|url=http://georgepadmoreinstitute.org/tribute-gerry-german-norman-girvan|publisher=George Padmore Institute|access-date=3 December 2016|archive-date=16 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716144048/https://www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org/tribute-gerry-german-norman-girvan|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[John, Gus](/source/Gus_John), [http://www.irr.org.uk/news/gerry-german-1928-2012/ "Gerry German, 1928–2012"], Institute of Race Relations, 3 May 2012.</ref>

==Further reading==
* {{cite book| last= Donnell | first= Alison | title= Lost and Found: An A-Z of Neglected Writers of the Anglophone Caribbean |chapter=B is for Vera Zilla Alberta Bell| publisher= [Papillote Press](/source/Papillote_Press) | date= May 2025 |isbn= 9781739130312 |url= https://www.papillotepress.co.uk/books/lostandfound/|pages=30–41}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Vera}}
Category:1906 births
Category:Year of death missing
Category:Jamaican women poets
Category:20th-century Jamaican poets
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of London
Category:20th-century Jamaican women writers
Category:20th-century women poets

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vera Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Bell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Bell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.