Frank Collymore’s influence was felt in many fields.  As a longstanding teacher at Combermere School, he is remembered for this warmth and wisdom.  He made a mark as an amateur actor and painter, and his poetry and short stories are still being anthologised.  Notes for a Glossary of Words and Phrases of Barbadian Dialect, compiled at a time when dialect was not regarded as compatible with ‘serious’ literature, marks his appreciation of Barbadian culture.

It was, however, through BIM, the literary magazine he edited from 1942 – 1972, that Collymore really made his mark.  At a time when there were few publishing outlets for West Indian writers, the small regional literary magazines (Kyk-Over-Al in Guyana, and Focus in Jamaica were others) played an important role in disseminating their work. Collymore also maintained a warm and mutually admiring correspondence with Henry Swanzy of the BBC’s Caribbean Voices from 1948 to 1956.  Through this relationship, numerous writers from the region were afforded the opportunity to broadcast their work to wider audience.  Austin Clarke, Kamau Brathwaite, Shake Keane, George Lamming, Edgar Mittleholzer and Sam Selvon gained their first exposure through the efforts of Frank Collymore.

One story in particular exemplifies Collymore’s unerring eye for talent, and his influence on a groundbreaking generation of writers.  In 1949, he wrote to Swanzy about a young St. Lucian poet, then nineteen, who had recently come to his attention, and of whom he said:  ‘ I think I have made an important discovery … his work is obviously sincere and wonderfully mature … I do not know when I have read anything so exciting’.  That same year, he published an article in BIM, ‘Introduction to the Poetry of Derek Walcott’, in which he effectively launched the career of the now famous Nobel Laureate.

Frank Collymore was a mentor to the literary generation now celebrated as the first major flowering of West Indian literature in English.  Their stature today is partly due to his professional dedication.  But on a personal level, Collymore was a self-effacing man, loved for his humour and endless fund of stories, and revered for his commitment to education and literature.  The Central Bank is proud to continue the tradition of creating an environment in which young writers may thrive.