Hinterland

E.A. Markham’s iconic anthology Hinterland opened up new territory for many readers, with its substantial selections by 14 key poets with photos, interviews, essays by the poets themselves. It became a set text for the Open University and at many universities and colleges in Britain and the Caribbean. Since Markham compiled his selection over 30 years ago, the work of the poets he documents has become even more important, historically signi?cant and highly influential. The poets featured – in depth – are Derek Walcott, Martin Carter, Louise Bennett, Kamau Brathwaite, Dennis Scott, James Berry, Mervyn Morris, E.A. Markham, Olive Senior, Grace Nichols, Lorna Goodison, Fred D’Aguiar, Michael Smith and Linton Kwesi Johnson.‘The product largely of offshore islands – Jamaica, Trinidad, Britain, etc (Guyana being the exception) – West Indian poetry in English has often been located on the fringes of the central experience. Its popularity is widely associated with local colour, linguistic and tonal innovation, thought to be lacking in the English “mainstream”. This collection shows that the most vital and challenging poetry of the British Caribbean heritage is both local in its urgency and informed by a hinterland of experience deeper than the geography of the islands’ politics.’ – E.A. Markham, writing in 1989