CULTURE

Journey in words

Jamaican-born poet and speaker Nadine Williams’ work is inspired by her immigration path

By Takara Small

Nadine Williams was always comfortable being the centre of everyone’s attention, but she never thought she would be doing it on a professional basis. That is, until she began writing poetry based on her immigrant experiences in Canada.

The Jamaican-born immigrant, whose self-published pieces of work include “With This Pen I Do Tell,” “The Culmination of Marriage Between Me & My Pen,” “Pen on Fiyah” and Love Rocks, a children’s book, has drawn hundreds of people to her poetry readings, workshops and keynote speaking events.

Her public speaking career had its beginnings in an unlikely place: the living room of her rural home in St. Parish, Jamaica. It was there, surrounded by family, that she would recite stories and poetry from a range of works using a well-used kerosene lamp to help her see the pages.

“What inspired me; what started this, was reading as a child,” she says. “There was no electricity in my house and you had to find something to do and reading out loud for my grandparents was one way to pass the time.”

Despite her humble beginnings, she always saw herself as one of the “spoiled, lucky ones” during her early years, she confesses.

With a mother in Canada who would regularly send money back home to support her and extended family members, she and her brother grew up with more privileges that many of her peers. They had nicer clothes and better meals, but it obviously came with a price: she rarely saw her mother and spent most of her younger, formative years (from the age of five to 15) raised by her grandparents.

Her mother worked long hours in Canada and scrimped and saved what she could, which meant she could rarely afford to return to Jamaica to watch her children grow up.

“We wore the best clothes and were spoiled in our humble upbringing because she sent money back all the time, but it had its drawbacks,” Williams says.

Her world, as she knew it, revolved around her life in Jamaica and she barely knew her mother, with whom she reunited at 15 years old in Toronto.

“It’s not uncommon for immigrant families to do this,” she says. “They come to a country early to pave the way, but it meant I had no recollection of [my mother] when I moved to Canada.”

The author has often leaned on her experiences of feeling alone and uncertain as a young immigrant in Canada to fuel her community work and passion for poetry today. Turning those experiences into something positive creatively has netted Williams several awards for literary work, including the York Regional Police’ Deeds Speak award this past February. Her success with poetry also led to opportunities to read her work on CBC TV, Rogers TV, at schools and post-secondary institutions in Ontario, as well as at Queen’s Park during Black History Month.

She’s definitely come a long time since her selfdescribed “awkward teen years” in Canada, during which she was faced with navigating Canadian culture while sharing a onebedroom apartment in Toronto with her mother and sibling.

“I tried to fit in, but I had some issues, you know normal teenage things, but it was compounded because there was such a difference between me and everyone else. I wasn’t from here and couldn’t fit in with my strong Jamaican accent.”

An early marriage she entered into “too quickly” at the age of 20 was a way to cope with being a constant “outsider” in her new adopted land, she shares.

“If I grew up in Canadian society it would’ve been different,” she says. “You’re educated and aware of how things are supposed to go socially. I don’t think I would have made that [marriage] decision so early. I felt like it ruined my life in a way. I was so young, so immature, so not ready for anything like marriage.”

The lifechanging event and later separation provided further inspiration for her work, and

most importantly opened her eyes to the importance of female newcomers sharing their stories with the community. “From my experience, I’ve been able to visit a lot of women shelters and begin sharing my stories with other women,” she says. “I found that there are a lot of people who have had the same experiences I did. I was pretty much beaten down to the earth physically and mentally, but poetry helps me to love myself. Others should share their stories and feel that way, too.” For Williams, every new experience helps her tell new stories through her poetry. It’s a skill that she hopes to share with more Canadians. “I really hope to continue writing and take my work further than Toronto, Brampton and York Region. Maybe taking it nationally and creating more awareness in Canada … just really continuing my work,” she says. Jamaican-born Nadine Williams uses poetry to tell her Canadian immigration story.