Frank Collymore


Frank Appleton Collymore MBE was a famous Barbadian literary editor, author, poet, stage performer and painter. His nickname was "Barbadian Man of the Arts". He also taught for 50 years at Combermere School, where he sought out and encouraged prospective writers in his classes, notably George Lamming and Austin Clarke.

Background

Frank Collymore was born to Rebecca Wilhelmina Clarke and Joseph Appleton Collymore at Woodville Cottage, Chelsea Road, Saint Michael, Barbados. Aside from being a student at Combermere School, he was also one of its staff members until his retirement in 1958, up to which point he was its Deputy Headmaster. After this, he often returned to teach until 1963.
On the stage, he became a member of the "Bridgetown Players", which began in 1942. As an artist, he made many drawings and paintings to illustrate his own writings. He called them "Collybeasts" or "Collycreatures".

''BIM'' magazine

In 1942, Collymore began the famous Caribbean literary magazine BIM, for which he is most well-known, and he was its editor until 1975. John T. Gilmore has written of Collymore: "As a lover of literature, he was also a dedicated and selfless encourager of the work of others, lending books to aspiring writers from their schooldays onwards, publishing their early work in Bim, the literary magazine he edited for more than fifty issues from the 1940s to the 1970s, and helping them to find other markets, especially through the relationship he established with Henry Swanzy, producer of the influential BBC radio programme Caribbean Voices."

Legacy

Three literary awards have been named after him. The Frank Collymore Literary Endowment was established by the Central Bank of Barbados to honour his memory as well as to recognise, support and reward literary talent in Barbados, while the Frank Collymore Hall was constructed as a venue for distinguished public speakers and cultural events.

Works