Abdur Rahman Slade Hopkinson

Abdhur Rahman Slade Hopkinson ( Slade Hopkinson; 1934 – 1993) was a Guyana-born poet, playwright, actor and teacher.

Early life Slade Hopkinson was born in the town New Amsterdam, Guyana; his father was a barrister, and his mother, a nurse. Slade's family moved to Barbados after his father's death. There, he enrolled in Harrison College. He was awarded a scholarship to the University College of the West Indies in 1952, where he took part in school theatre, and directed productions of Oedipus and King Lear. He secured a Bachelor of Arts in his first year – 1953 – and a Diploma of Education three years later.

Career Slade Hopkinson then went travelled to Jamaica, where he took various jobs in education, journalism, and the government. There, he was married and had two children, Nalo and Keita. In 1954, he published a poetry collection titled The Four and Other Poems. In 1957, he wrote a play, The Blood of a Family, and in 1962 his family moved to Trinidad where he joined the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. He left to study at the Yale Drama School for two years then accepted a teaching position at the University of Guyana for two years until 1968. During that time authored two more plays, published in 1967 and 1968. He later returned to the Theatre Workshop, but in 1970 he had a disagreement and left to found the Caribbean Theatre Guild the same year. Six years later, two more poetry volumes were published, one secular and the other religio-philosophical. He also dabbled in short fiction, while his poetry was picked up by journals, periodicals, and anthologies including, The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse. A selection of his poems which had been written between 1952 and 1992 was titled Snowscape With Signature, and published in 1993. Mervyn Morris provided an introduction. Snowscape With Signature: Poems, 1952-1992. Leeds, England: Peepal Tree, 1993.