Evan Jones celebrated his J’can heritage
Late author laid to rest in London
Published:Thursday | May 11, 2023 | 1:30 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer
Evan Jones, one of Jamaica’s most prolific writers, who rose to international acclaim, was laid to rest on Wednesday. “Uncle Evan was buried today (Wednesday) in London in a private ceremony attended by wife, daughters and his four grandchildren,” his niece Jessica Jones told The Gleaner, noting that her uncle built a house in Portland and visited Jamaica often.
Evan Jones died in London on April 18 at 95. He is survived by wife, Joanna, who was an actress, and daughters Melissa and Sadie Jones, both writers.
One of seven children, he was born on December 29, 1927, in Hector’s River, Portland, the son of Fred M. Jones, a banana farmer, and Gladys, a Quaker missionary and teacher at Happy Grove School. One of Evan’s elder brothers was Kenneth Jones, former minister of communications and works in Jamaica’s first cabinet (1962–1964).
The writer of numerous films, books, television series and poems, Evan Jones was best known locally for his poem The Song of the Banana Man, The Lament of the Banana Man and his 1975 BBC television series The Fight Against Slavery for which he was awarded the Dr Martin Luther King Memorial Award in 1976. The former is popular with students across Jamaica, and the latter, which was partly shot in Jamaica, features many Jamaican actors and actresses. Evan Jones introduces all six episodes.
His semi-autobiographical novel Stone Haven, published in 1993 by the Institute of Jamaica Publications, takes its name from the family home in Portland, and he declares that it was “The book about Jamaica I always wanted to write.” He grew up in Jamaica, attended Munro College, and always celebrated his roots. In an essay published ‘A Cushion for My Dreams’, which appeared in Air Jamaica’s in flight magazine in February, 1999, he writes: “I have been privileged because I grew up in Jamaica. I lived in Eden before the flaming sword.”
From Munro, he went to Haverford College, Pennsylvania, because of his mother’s affiliation to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and taught at the George School in Pennsylvania and Wesleyan University, Connecticut, before moving to the United Kingdom (UK). There, he attended Wadham College, Oxford University, from which he graduated in 1952 with a bachelor’s in English.
In the UK, he earned his living as a writer of documentary drama, television plays and feature films. His screenwriting credits include Eva (a collaboration with Hugo Butler, 1962); King & Country (1964) and Modesty Blaise (1966). Some other screenplays are Funeral in Berlin (1966), Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969), Escape to Victory (1981) which starred Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and Pele and A Show of Force (1990).
His play, Madhouse on Castle Street (1963), a now lost BBC television drama, featured the acting début of Bob Dylan. He also wrote poetry, biographies and novels for children.
Oxford University’s world-famous Bodleian Library acquired his papers in 2015. The library has its origins as early as 1488 and is the repository for some 11 million printed items.
“I personally have benefited from his use of Jamaican dialect. I believe he should get more credit for what he did with our language, especially in The Song of the Banana Man. He had a pitch-perfect ear, and that poem will live for evermore,” said former poet laureate, Lorna Goodison.
His daughter, Sadie Jones, won the Costa First Novel Award for The Outcast and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She is slated to read at Calabash Literary Festival in Treasure Beach at the end of the month.