Janie Cricketing Lady

Poetry. Afro-Caribbean Studies. Inventive in its deployment of language, form and vision, JANIE CRICKETING LADY traces the journey of an anomalous sportswoman and accompanies her migration from the Caribbean to Britain and her return to her island home, Grenada. The poems explore questions of womanhood in spatial, temporal and sporting contexts. In a powerful tribute to a small island feminist, the poems sing of struggles within and against her assigned role. Anim-Addo's poetry inscribes an all-too-needed herstory. In the process, a fresh and challenging icon is presented, that of the Caribbean woman cricketer: "And how she lashed that red leather, / punching the ball off the offside, / gravitating to her knees to make a sweep / and place the ball sweet between fielders." Joan Anim-Addo was born in Grenada. She is currently Head of the Caribbean Centre and lecturers within the English Department, Goldsmiths, University of London and Chair of the Caribbean Women Writers Alliance (CWWA) and founder-editor of Mango Season, the journal on Caribbean Women's writing.