Patricia Glinton-Meicholas

Who is Patricia Glinton-Meicholas?

Patricia Laverne Glinton-Meicholas was a Bahamian writer, cultural critic, folklorist, and educator best known for documenting the everyday sayings, humor, and folkways of Bahamian life. Educated at the University of the West Indies and the University of Miami, she worked for many years as an administrator, lecturer, and academic dean at the College of the Bahamas. She gained wide popularity with her bestselling books "Talkin' Bahamian" and "How to Be a True-True Bahamian," irreverent, affectionate surveys of Bahamian names, food, celebrations, superstition, and speech that preserved local proverbs and expressions for a new generation of readers. Her later collection "An Evening in Guanima" gathered Bahamian folktales and oral traditions, further cementing her role as a custodian of the nation's intangible cultural heritage. In recognition of her contributions to Bahamian letters, she became the first woman to deliver the Sir Lynden Pindling Memorial Lecture, received the inaugural Bahamas Cacique Award for Writing, was awarded the Silver Jubilee of Independence Medal for Literature in 1998, and received the Order of Merit in 2021. She died in 2025.

Sources: Patricia Glinton-Meicholas — Wikipedia (biographical summary) · The Bahamian Project, "In Memoriam: Patricia Glinton-Meicholas (1950-2025)" · Bahamas Books, "How to Be a True-True Bahamian" publisher record