Eric Walrond: A Harlem Renaissance writer in 1940s Bradford on Avon

A panel exhibition detailing the life and times of Guyanian born Eric Walrond in 1898. A towering figure of the Harlem Renaissance, his early literary success in 20s New York was with a book of short stories called Tropic Death, one of the first attempts by a black writer to depict Caribbean lives and voices. But things didn’t work out and he decided to leave New York and set off for Europe, arriving in London after a spell in Paris. When the Blitz campaign started Eric fled London and came to Bradford on Avon! And he lived here, with a Mr. and Mrs. Potter in Ivy Terrace, for 13 years. The exhibition charts a life of twists and turns for this forgotten writer: life in Bradford, work at the Melksham rubber factory, more writing and a period in Roundway hospital.