Valerie Bloom – Sharon RM Stevens

If I mentioned the name Valerie Bloom, would you know whom I’m talking about? Or asked you about her work, would you know what she did?

Well, I was in the same position as you, if you’d answered no to any of the above…

I was at a local fair and found one of her books on sale. As a supply teacher, I always take poetry books into school to read to the children I teach. As I consistently leave things behind, I’m always on the lookout for a bargain.

The book I bought was Let Me Touch the Sky I loved it and so did the children whom I read the poems to.

Valerie was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1956 and moved to England in 1979. She completed a degree in English with African and Caribbean Studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury; later (in 2008) she was given an honorary master. In 2008 she was given an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and is now part of a team that teaches teachers how to teach poetry at Centre for Literacy in Primary Education – Poetry.

She has written lots of books (mostly in patois) in many genres, children poetry, stories, adult literature and have performed too live and on the radio. Her latest book, Jaws, Claws and Things (2013) I am still yet to read.

The poem that I love to read is Hair Cut Rap; it’s one that children often request.