[3] Velma Pollard was born on 26 March 1937 to a farmer and school teacher in Woodside, Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica.
[6] Her interest in writing began at an early age; when she was seven years old, she won her first prize for a poem.
Her book Karl won the Casa de las Americas literary prize in 1992.
[8] After her retirement, Pollard had a continued presence at the University of West Indies as a senior lecturer.
In 2013, Pollard released a collection of poetry titled And Caret Bay Again: New and Selected Poems.