E. A. Markham

[1] He subsequently went on to research 17th-century comedy at the University of East Anglia, before taking up his first academic position as a lecturer at Kilburn Polytechnic (now the College of North West London).

[4][5] Shortly after his return from the tour, Markham left for France, where he worked, building houses with a French co-operative movement (the Cooperative Ouvrière du Batiment) in the Alpes-Maritimes, from 1972 to 1974.

[5][6] In a long itinerant period, he took a Voluntary Service Overseas position for two years (1983–85) in Papua New Guinea, working as media co-ordinator for the provincial authorities in Enga province.

[8] He found his first "artistic outlet" in drama, writing and producing a play called The Masterpiece while still at university in the early 1960s.

He argued that in inventing these multiple personae, "the test was to force their creator to accommodate types of consciousness which, at the very least, served to enlarge one area of Westindianness".

[6] Markham's writing in genres other than poetry – the short story, the novel, autobiography and travel-writing – was well received by critics.