Odimumba Kwamdela, born J. Ashton Brathwaite (September 11, 1942 – January 16, 2019), was a writer from Barbados. He wrote 14 books, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and created three spoken word albums with music.

Background

In 1960, when he was in his early teens, he moved from his home country of Barbados to London, England. He later joined the British Army and served in the Middle East. After completing his military service, he moved from London to Ontario, Canada. There, he worked as a freelancer for Toronto newspapers before starting his own magazine called Spear Magazine. This magazine is known as the first Black magazine published in Canada. He once said, "I had big dreams of making Spear the Ebony of Canada."

Over time, he became unhappy with the limits of Spear because he believed Canada had too small a Black population. He also faced problems because of the "controversial" label given to his book, Niggers…This is Canada, which led to government harassment. Because of this, he moved to New York City. During the Black Arts Movement of the mid-1970s, he changed his name from his birth name to Odimumba Kwamdela.

Kwamdela worked as a high-school teacher for the New York City Board of Education, teaching Writing and Graphic Arts. He taught for several years in some of the most challenging schools in the world, including one located at Rikers Island Jail, a facility for adolescent offenders. He wrote a book about his experiences teaching there.

Kwamdela earned a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the City University of New York and a master's degree in instructional technology from the New York Institute of Technology.

Selected works

• Black British Soldier (1969)
• Soul in the Wilderness (1970)
• Bitter Soul (1970)
• The Grassroots Philosopher (1970)
• N*ggers…This is Canada (1971)
• The Righteous Blackman (1972)
• Raining Ruins and Rockstones (1981)
• Blood-Boiling Black Blues (1983)
• Back to Penny Hole Forever (1997)
• Mighty Sparrow, Calypso King of the World (2006)
• Deception + Resentment + Racial Hatred + Anti-poor = POLITICS (PARTICULARLY In AMERICA) (2018)