James Berry was born in coastal Jamaica on September 28, 1924. He worked for four years as a contract laborer on farms and in factories in the United States before moving to the United Kingdom. He joined the Post Office and spent 20 years as a telecommunications operator.
His first collection of poetry, Fractured Circles, was published in 1979. His other collections of poetry included Lucy's Letters and Loving, Chain of Days, Hot Cold Earth, Windrush Songs, and A Story I Am In. He won several awards including the National Poetry prize for Fantasy of an African Boy in 1981, the Smarties prize for A Thief in the Village and Other Stories in 1987, the Signal poetry award in 1989, and the Coretta Scott King book award in 1989. He was appointed OBE in 1990. He died on June 20, 2017 at the age of 92.
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