Grace Nichols

Grace Nichols (born 1950) is a Guyanese poet who moved to Britain in 1977, before which she worked as a teacher and journalist in Guyana. Her first collection, I is a Long-Memoried Woman, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. In December 2021, she was announced as winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

Early years and education Grace Nichols was born in Georgetown, and lived in a small village on the country's coast until her family moved to the city when she was eight years old. She took a Diploma in Communications from the University of Guyana, and subsequently worked as a teacher (1967–70), as a journalist and in government informations services, before she migrated to the United Kingdom in 1977. School students aged 11–18 from around the UK were invited to create and submit their own anthologies of published poetry. The first ever winners of Anthologise were the sixth-form pupils of Monkton Combe School, Bath, with their anthology titled The Poetry of Earth is Never Dead.

In 2021, Nichols was the recipient of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, on the basis of her body of work, chosen by a committee chaired by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

Personal life She lives in Lewes, East Sussex,

Nichols has five sisters and one brother, whose names have not been publicly disclosed. Nichols also immigrated to the United Kingdom due to the political and economic climate in Guyana. Her husband also influenced her move.