Our Most Anticipated Caribbean Books of 2021
From Malika's Poetry Kitchen to the Moulite Sisters, our most anticipated Caribbean Books of 2021 in academic text, essays, biographies, poetry, romance, speculative fiction, young adult fiction and literary fiction.
2020 was an incredible year for Caribbean literature and after announcing the Caribbean Readers’ Awards everyone couldn’t wait to hear the line-up for 2021. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is representative of what the Rebel Women Lit community is excited about getting on our bookshelves.
Quick Index:
Contemporary and Literary Fiction
Poetry
Speculative Fiction
Young Adult Novels
Romance
Historical Fiction
Short Story Collections
Translated Works
Reprints
Biographies, Autobiographies, Memoirs
Essays, Creative Non-Fiction, and Literary Criticism
Academic Texts
If you’d like to make any suggestions or corrections for our 2021 Caribbean Book List, feel fee to send us a message.
Contemporary and Literary Fiction
Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden (January - Cannongate)
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour (January - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Vanishing Girls by Callie Browning (February - Self-Published)
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones (February - Little, Brown and Company)
What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster (March - Grand Central Publishing)
This One Sky Day (UK) / Popisho (US) by Leone Ross (April - Faber Faber (UK) and Farrar, Straus and Giroux (US))
Waiting for the Waters to Rise by Maryse Condé (August - World Editions)
Poetry Collections
Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different: Twenty Years of British Poetry from Malikas Poetry Kitchen (August - Corsair)
Mother Muse by Lorna Goodison (June - Carcarnet)
Thinking with Trees by Jason Allen-Paisant ( June - Carcarnet)
(Photos to be added once released - Dunno why dem always leggo the poet dem artwork late)
Speculative Fiction
(Fantasy, Magical Realism, Sci-Fiction, and a Seamless Blend of Our Spiritual and Physical Worlds)
A River Called Time by Courttia Newland (January - Cannongate and June- Akashic)
A Master of Djinn (Fatma el-Sha’arawi #3) by P. Djèlí Clark (May - TOR)
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart (April - HarperTeen US and Hot Key Books UK) (Also in Young Adult)
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull (Sep - Blackstone Publishing)
Young Adult Novels
One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite & Maritza Moulite (January - Inkyard Press)
Your Corner Dark by Desmond Hall (January - Simon & Schuster)
Your Heart, My Sky: Love in a Time of Hunger by Margarita Engle (March - Simon & Schuster)
Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield (May - Wednesday Books)
Josephine Against the Sea by Shakirah Bourne (July - Scholastic Inc.)
Romance
Scandal in the VIP Suite by Nadine Séïde Gonzalez (January - Harlequin Desires)
Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass (May - Balzer + Bray)
Sweethand (Island Bites Book 1) by N.G. Peltier (March - self-published)
Short Story Collections
Folk Stories from the Hills of Puerto Rico / Cuentos folklóricos de las montañas de Puerto Rico edited by Rafael Ocasio (May 2021, Rutgers University Press)
Translated Works
Folk Stories from the Hills of Puerto Rico / Cuentos folklóricos de las montañas de Puerto Rico edited by Rafael Ocasio (translated by Spanish) (May 2021, Rutgers University Press)
Waiting for the Waters to Rise by Marse Condé (translated from French) (August - World Editions)
Reprints
Sprucing up some favourite Caribbean Classics for today’s readers to enjoy
The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy (February - Penguin UK)
Minty Alley Black Britain by C.L.R. James (February - Penguin UK)
Without Prejudice by Nicola Williams (February - Penguin UK)
The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips (February - Penguin UK)
Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs
The Gift of Music and Song: Interviews with Jamaican Women Writers by Jacqueline Bishop (January - Peepal Tree Press)
Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist's Freedom Song by Marlon Peterson (April - Bold Type Books
Essays, Creative Non-Fiction, and Literary Criticism
We Must Learn to Sit Together and Talk About a Little Culture: Decolonizing Essays 1967-1984 by Sylivia Wynter (February - Peepal Tree Press)
In the Eye of the Storm: Edgar Mittelholzer 1909–2009: Critical Perspectives by Juanita Cox (Feb - Peepal Tree Press)
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (March - Bold Type Books)
The Shape of That Hurt by Gordon Rohlehr (Mar - Peepal Tree Press)
Things I Have Withheld by Kei Miller (May - Canongate)
Writing the Caribbean in Magazine Time by Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann (June - Rutgers University Press)
(back to the top)
Academic Texts
Talawa Theatre Company: Theatrical History and the Brewster Era by David Vivian Johnson (January - Bloomsbury)
The Haiti Reader: History, Culture, Politics editors: Editor(s): Laurent Dubois, Kaiama L. Glover, Nadève Ménard, Millery Polyné & Chantalle F. Verna (January - Duke University Press)
A Contested Caribbean Indigeneity: Language, Social Practice, and Identity within Puerto Rican Taíno Activism by Sherina Feliciano-Santos (February - Rutgers University Press)
Black Flags of the Caribbean: How Trinidad Became an ISIS Hotspot by Simon Cottee (February - Bloomsbury)
The Bloomsbury Handbook to Edwidge Danticat edited by Jana Evans Braziel & Nadège T. Clitandre (February - Bloomsbury)
The Struggle of Non-Sovereign Caribbean Territories Neoliberalism since the French Antillean Uprisings of 2009 edited by H. Adlai Murdoch (February - Rutgers University Press)
Kincraft The Making of Black Evangelical Sociality by Todne Thomas (March - Duke University Press)
Colonial Debts: The Case of Puerto Rico by Rocaio Zambrana (May - Duke University Press)
Selected Writings on Race and Difference by Stuart Hall (April Duke University Press)
Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence by Ian Kinane (May - Bloomsbury)
Slavery in Africa and the Caribbean: A History of Enslavement and Identity Since the Eighteenth Century edited by Olatunji Ojo & Nadine Hunt (May - Bloomsbury)
The Jamaica Reader: History, Culture, Politics editors: Diana Paton and Matthew J. Smith (May - Duke University Press)
The Natural, Moral, and Political History of Jamaica From the First Discovery of the Island by Christopher Columbus to the Year 1746 by James Knight (May - University of Virginia Press)
Beyond Man: Race Coloniality, and Philosophy of Religion editors An Yountae & Eleanor Craig (June - Duke University Press)
Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer (September - Simon & Schuster)
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Index:
Contemporary and Literary Fiction | Poetry | Speculative Fiction | Young Adult Novels | Romance | Historical Fiction | Reprints
Biographies, Autobiographies, Memoirs | Essays, Creative Non-Fiction, and Literary Criticism | Academic Texts
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Our Favourite Books of 2020 (So Far)
We asked four of our book club members for some the best books they’ve read so far this year and think would be a great accompaniment to your summer adventures, whether you're exploring the great outdoors or sticking close to the A/C.
As we figure out how to stay ‘socially distant’ while planning beach trips, — or chill out on the couch in front of your fan — we have to admit there's no better Summer companion than a great book. Instead of giving in to the torpor of long, hot days, and watching that series for the eighth time, why not use this Summer to expand your mind?
We asked four book club members for some of their favourite reads for the year (so far) and why they’re recommending you read it before the end of Summer.
Candiese’s favourite: Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis Benn
Candiese with her favourite 2020 read (so far) Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
I love a good story and “Here Comes The Sun” is a great one. As a dark-skinned Jamaican woman, I saw myself and people I relate to in every single character. I especially loved the way Dennis-Benn was able to address issues we face daily in an authentic way without missing a beat and without dragging on. This story is authentic, entertaining and engrossing, but it will make you think.
The way the writer juxtaposed the white sand, tourist-attracting elements of this country and the struggles faced by those serving those tourists and working to keep the facade going was excellent. The way she brought to the forefront the various acts carried out behind the scenes while using one character to justify those acts while another condemns them... wow. This book is full of twists and turns, heartbreak and triumph. Characters struggle with identity issues, self-esteem issues, financial woes, trauma, sexual and emotional abuse, sexuality and coming of age concerns... just so much but in such a way that you’ll never want to put this down. This is a must-read.
It’s the one book I shove at all my friends and I’m shameless about it. Would I make the leap and say this is my favourite book of all time? I might. There’s just so much to say. I think my favourite thing about this book is how realistic it is. There is no dressing up - and I appreciate that more than anything else. Reading it was an experience.
Go read it and thank me later.
Follow Candiese on Twitter: @CandieseReads and Instagram MsLeveridge
Tyesha’s Favourite: Born A Crime By Trevor Noah
There had been much buzz about this book. However, my affinity for most things South African nurtured by a good South African friend drew me to this book.
In a big nutshell, Born a Crime is Noah's memoir focused on his childhood journey from illegitimate son (by society's standards) born out of an immoral and criminal act (by virtue of South Africa's 1927 Immorality Act with which he opens the book) to young adult. The story flows from Apartheid to democratic South Africa with his mother (she was the star character) as central theme throughout.
I enthusiastically recommend this book, especially to boys, as I enjoyed his easy, authentic and humorous way of dropping some blinding gems about life - racism and discrimination, relationships and friendships, love, sacrifice, charting one's path, acceptance, spirituality and priorities.
As I read the recounting of life under Apartheid in the late 1980s to early 90s and what that meant for black people living in their own country, I could not help but connect that to recent highlighted events of discrimination unfolding in the US and sadly, other parts of the world (Jamaica included) that may not be so widely televised.
In Chapter 15 "Go Hitler!", Noah writes "Every country thinks their history is the most important, and that’s especially true in the West. But if black South Africans could go back in time and kill one person, Cecil Rhodes would come up before Hitler. If people in the Congo could go back in time and kill one person, Belgium’s King Leopold would come way before Hitler. If Native Americans could go back in time and kill one person, it would probably be Christopher Columbus or Andrew Jackson." All key figures that struck a chord in these 2020 riots and sentiments! Are we not progressing? I felt sad and hopeless but never failed to crack a smile at some show of wit or comedy that Noah weaves consistently from start to end.
Shantay’s Favourite: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Shantay With Her Favourite for 2020 (so far) Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Girl, Woman, Other was my first book of 2020, and I could not have started my literary year any better. This book was a JOURNEY! Bernardine Evaristo's writing style pulled me in from the very first page - in the first two lines! She threw the usual rules of punctuation out the window in favor of a more poetic but unconventional structure for prose - what is a full stop? Once I started, I could not put this book down. And as soon as I finished, I began losing my mind trying to find someone - anyone - to discuss this book with. I NEEDED someone to share all this greatness with because greatness like this deserves to be shared. The characters felt like people I've known all my life. Each individual's story was short, but Evaristo created such fully formed characters with each chapter. These are women you've mentioned on Twitter and women whose plays you want to watch. These women are your teachers and your friends.
Then there's the DRAMA! WHEW! It gets spicy. This is the sort of book that makes you want to sit down over tea and gossip about the things the characters are getting up to lately. I began to feel like the nosy neighbour keeping tabs on who is visiting who at what hours of the night and asking questions like "When last you visit your grandma?" The book also has it's more sensitive moments and deals so well with issues of abandonment and abuse. This book has so many POVs with characters of different ages with different upbringings, including immigrants and first and second-generation British women. It truly shows the diversity that is the experience of being a Black woman in Britain and the connections to Africa and the Caribbean. I don't know what else to say besides why haven't you bought this book yet? It is sheer brilliance, and I'm not going to shut up about it for a long time.
Follow Shantay’s mind and reading journey on Instagram & Twitter
Gabrielle’s Favourite: Children of Virtue and Vengence by Tomi Adeyemi
Gabrielle serving and sharing her favourite 2020 book: Children of Virtue and Vengence by Tomi Adeyemi
One of my best reads and this speaks volumes as this was a great year for literature. Children of Virtue and Vengence is the second book in the Legacy of Orisha series by Tomi Adeyemi.I’m obsessed with fantasy especially if it’s based on Afro-spirituality so I really love the retelling of Yoruban mythology in this book.
It was so exceptional but on the other hand, it made me so mad; I wanted to reach within the book and curse the characters for the drama they curated. But again, it is so good at the same time which is amazing for not many persons can write fantasy so enjoyable.
As such, I have all the reason to be frustrated because the release date of the third book is yet to be announced and I am itching to read it. How will I survive the wait? I still haven’t determined that.
Follow Gabrielle on Instagram: @gen_zea where she posts about books and tea
What’s your favourite book so far this year and what are you planning on getting to this Summer?
Come let’s get our Goodreads counter up!
Learning to Love Complicated Mothers - Episode 7 of Like A Real Book Club
In episode seven of “Like A Real Book Club”, we meditate on the complexities of Caribbean motherhood - ladened with a history of patriarchal violence that has architected the tenuous, terrible and beautiful bonds we form with the matriarchs in our lives (and, of course, how these relationships are depicted in Caribbean literature).
There’s a moment in your adulthood where you become aware of your parents’ humanness. The frailty in their bones from years of labour; the knowing in their eyes that can only be won through experience. You begin to understand, with certainty and clarity, how an unjust world shaped who they became and moulded the kind of relationships we end up having with them.
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In this episode of “Like A Real Book Club”, we meditate on the complexities of Caribbean motherhood - ladened with a history of patriarchal violence that has architected the tenuous, terrible and beautiful bonds we form with the matriarchs in our lives (and, of course, how these relationships are depicted in Caribbean literature). For us, humanizing mothers beyond the emotional labour they perform is a catalyst for a host of hard, and sometimes uncomfortable, emotions about what it means to exist as a woman who is mothering, but also how we see these women. Do we recognize their humanity untethered from their children? Do we provide space for their anger? Their resentment and frustration? Have we made room for them to mourn the loss of who they were before they were expected to give life?
Are We Being Too Demanding As Caribbean Readers?
Is it ok to feel a way when a Caribbean author doesn’t use our language and our culture in their work?
The knee-jerk reaction to this is “No” but let’s think about it…
Is it ok to feel a way when a Caribbean author doesn’t use our language and our culture in their work?
We love reading novels and poetry from the Caribbean, especially ones written by Jamaican authors, but are we demanding in our expectations?
What’s up with publicists comparing Jamaican authors to each other when their styles and subject-matter are worlds apart?
Listen to Jherane, Kristina and Ashley on Like A Real Book Club talk about their complex relationship with Caribbean books and what we expect from them. This episode features a small clip from Olive Senior speaking about her writing (and why we don’t quite agree with Olive… gasp)
Listen & Subscribe to Like A Real Book Club
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