Quote by Grace Nichols: “I have been a fat black woman. I have been me.”

This quote is a powerful affirmation of self-acceptance and identity. It directly confronts societal labels by embracing 'fat black woman' not as a stereotype, but as a core part of her unique, authentic self. It asserts the speaker's right to define her own existence, transcending external judgments.

The title poem of her collection, it captures the spirit of challenging Eurocentric beauty standards and asserting Black female identity in Britain during the 1980s. Nichols's work provided a vital voice for Caribbean women in the diaspora, celebrating their experiences and bodies.

Guyanese-British poet who came to international attention with her 1983 debut collection I Is a Long-Memoried Woman, which won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Her work centres Caribbean women's experiences of the Middle Passage, slavery, migration, and belonging. She is one of the foremost Caribbean voices in British literature.