| Leon Blades |
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 Leon was born in Trinidad in 1930, the year of the Depression. When he was five Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, when seven there was the abdication crisis in England and shortly after there were riots in the Caribbean. These were formative years for Leon and left a lasting impression. His grandfather, who greatly influenced him, came from an area in Trinidad called the American Village where they put people who fought in the American Civil War and forgot about them. Leon had been ill as a child and missed some of his schooling. When he returned he was someway behind. In his last year of primary school he encountered a Black female school inspector, which shocked him as he did not know that women could hold such a role. He went to the library in Port-of-Spain and looked for books that told him about black women and their struggle. It was hear that he first learned of Mary Bethune and Harriet Tubman and others. The role of women in society has been a key interest in his subsequent work. By the time he was 15-years-old, World War II had ended and Leon’s thinking about the situation and his actions often led people to say he was ‘behaving like a Russian’. While at school he followed a typical English curriculum that included the classics. He did not know that there were Black writers. Nor did he know there were black female activists and heroes. He had always used his imagination to write stories and poems but in Trinidad this was discouraged. Undeterred, he turned one of Longfellow’s poems into a Calypso song for mischief but was flogged for it. Leon came to the UK in 1963 after the Notting Hill Race Riots and found England cold in both the weather and in spirit. He came to Birmingham to study and had intended to leave when his studies were finished but never did. Leon used to go to meetings about various wars and crisis around the world and was often asked to write his impressions and commentary. Leon has written many commentaries and poems and self-published a small number of these have been published, by him. This includes ‘Day Breaker’ ‘The Early Bird’ and ‘Reminiscence.’ He has worked over the years to encourage others to write and recite their stories and poetry, even closet writers, and is especially pleased that his writing is now better known, understood and appreciated in his native Trinidad. |
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