Hamilton author honours Miss Lou, ‘one of the giants of Jamaican culture,’ in new book [Video]

Hamilton performer, teacher and author Tania Hernandez first came across Miss Lou as a child on her native island of Jamaica, when she used to see the local icon on her black-and-white TV.

“Miss Lou was like everybody’s mother,” Hernandez said.

“That’s why she’s called mother of Jamaican culture.”

Miss Lou, whose off-stage name was Louise Bennett-Coverley, was a performer, poet and folklorist who helped popularize the Jamaican language worldwide.

She also inspired Hernandez, also known as Tania Lou, who “always admired” Miss Lou.

She honours the Jamaican icon through her performance and now, through her writing in her new book, Ay Ya Yai! Miss Lou: Voice of the Jamaican People.

“I’m like a student of her works, and so I read a lot about her. I read her poems and I perform them and I sing her folk songs,” Hernandez said in a recent interview with CBC’s Fresh Air.

She started the book as a way to occupy herself at a time when she was recovering …