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Coming to ja.com book club April 23
Olive Senior - Author
Olive Senior was born and brought up in Jamaica. She was educated in Jamaica (Montego Bay High School) and Canada (Carleton University) and at the Thomson Foundation in the UK. In Jamaica, Senior has been editor of two of the Caribbean’s leading Journals – Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies and Jamaica Journal, published by Institute of Jamaica Publications of which she was also Managing Director. In recent years, she has spent much of her time abroad and since 1993 has been based in Toronto, Canada. The Caribbean nevertheless remains the focus of her work, starting with her prizewinning collection of stories, Summer Lightning (UK: Longman, 1986) which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1987, followed by Arrival of the Snake-Woman (UK: Longman 1989) and Discerner of Hearts (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1995).
Her poetry books are Gardening in the Tropics (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1994, UK: Bloodaxe 1995) and Talking of Trees (Kingston, Jamaica: Calabash 1986). Non-fiction works on Caribbean culture include the A-Z of Jamaican Heritage (Heinemann 1984) and Working Miracles: Women’s Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean (UK: James Currey; USA: Indiana University Press 1991). She is also included in Quartet (Longman 1995), a collection of four women writers including Alice Walker, Maya Angelou and Lorna Goodison. The Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage (Twin Guinep 2003) is her latest work, with new collections of stories and poetry forthcoming.See New(s)
Senior’s work is taught at universities internationally and her short story collection, Summer Lightning, has been a literature textbook in Caribbean schools. She is represented in numerous anthologies and her work has been translated into several languages.
She is on the faculty of The Humber School for Writers at Humber College, Toronto, Canada, and has taught in the writing programme at the University of Toronto, St Lawrence University, Canton, New York and Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. She has also served as director of the Fiction Workshop of the Caribbean Writers Summer Institute, University of Miami, Florida, and the Creative Writing Summer School at the University of the West Indies, Barbados. In the UK, she has taught courses at the Arvon Foundation Totleigh Banton, Devon; Ty Newydd, Walers; the South Bank Centre and elsewhere.
Senior has been Writer-in-residence in Canada at the University of Alberta and the Banff International Writing Studio, and at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and Trinidad. She has been an Arts Council of England Visiting International Writer, a Hawthornden Fellow, and Dana Distinguished International Writer at St Lawrence University.
Her poetry and fiction have been broadcast on both sides of the Atlantic, including the BBC Book at Bedtime Series and the CBC (Canada) Festival of Fiction. She has also written for radio, including the play ‘Window’ for the CBC and the lengthy poem ‘Ode to Pablo Neruda’ commissioned by Radio 4, England, for their ‘Poet’s Fan Mail’ series. She was Internet Poet-in-residence on the ‘Common . . . Places’ web site launched by the Commonwealth Institute in London, England in 1999 and her poetry has been included in ‘Poems on the Underground’, London Transport.
Senior has read her work, conducted writing workshops or lectured on Caribbean Culture at many venues in Canada, the USA, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Guyana, Martinique, Curacao and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage
by Olive Senior
580 pages
7 x 10 ins (17.75 x 25.5 cm)
• Who is BIG BOY? TACKY? MADAM FATE? MARY SEACOLE?
• What is the difference between ARAWAKS and TAINOS?
• Why MOKO? CATTA? Or Wedding BESSY?
• When would you dance DINKI MINI, GERREH or KUMINA?
• What does HOSAY celebrate?
• Where is FORT NUGENT or GOOD HOPE?
• Why do Jamaican children fear CASTOR OIL?
• Whose FOLLY was it?
• Does PASSION FRUIT make you passionate?
• Do you know how to run DUPPY or play MOONSHINE BABY?
• When was EMANCIPATION?
• What did COLUMBUS discover in 1494?
• How many Jamaican soldiers served in the first WORLD WAR?
This unique sourcebook runs the gamut from ABENG to ZOMBI with nearly 1000 entries and more than 700 illustrations as it explores the various strands of Jamaican Heritage: PEOPLE from all the ethnic and racial groups including the pre-Columbian. The world of NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT — the landscape and geography, historic sites, beauty and recreational spots. PLANTS and ANIMALS. CEREMONIES, CELEBRATIONS — SPORTS, GAMES AND PASTIMES. DOMESTIC and ECONOMIC activities. FOOD, CRAFTS, TRADES and OCCUPATIONS. RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL and CULTURAL activities and institutions. FOLKLORE, MYTHS and LEGENDS. TALES, PROVERBS and SAYINGS. HISTORIC PEOPLE, PLACES and EVENTS.
Its accessible style, cross-references, subject-index and extensive bibliography make it the ideal reference work for students, teachers, librarians, translators and others seeking an introduction as well as a guide to further reading on any of its topics. For Jamaicans — and others — at home or abroad, it will provide countless hours of amusement and entertainment, plus answers to the many questions about who we are.
Olive Senior - Author
Olive Senior was born and brought up in Jamaica. She was educated in Jamaica (Montego Bay High School) and Canada (Carleton University) and at the Thomson Foundation in the UK. In Jamaica, Senior has been editor of two of the Caribbean’s leading Journals – Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies and Jamaica Journal, published by Institute of Jamaica Publications of which she was also Managing Director. In recent years, she has spent much of her time abroad and since 1993 has been based in Toronto, Canada. The Caribbean nevertheless remains the focus of her work, starting with her prizewinning collection of stories, Summer Lightning (UK: Longman, 1986) which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1987, followed by Arrival of the Snake-Woman (UK: Longman 1989) and Discerner of Hearts (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1995).
Her poetry books are Gardening in the Tropics (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1994, UK: Bloodaxe 1995) and Talking of Trees (Kingston, Jamaica: Calabash 1986). Non-fiction works on Caribbean culture include the A-Z of Jamaican Heritage (Heinemann 1984) and Working Miracles: Women’s Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean (UK: James Currey; USA: Indiana University Press 1991). She is also included in Quartet (Longman 1995), a collection of four women writers including Alice Walker, Maya Angelou and Lorna Goodison. The Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage (Twin Guinep 2003) is her latest work, with new collections of stories and poetry forthcoming.See New(s)
Senior’s work is taught at universities internationally and her short story collection, Summer Lightning, has been a literature textbook in Caribbean schools. She is represented in numerous anthologies and her work has been translated into several languages.
She is on the faculty of The Humber School for Writers at Humber College, Toronto, Canada, and has taught in the writing programme at the University of Toronto, St Lawrence University, Canton, New York and Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. She has also served as director of the Fiction Workshop of the Caribbean Writers Summer Institute, University of Miami, Florida, and the Creative Writing Summer School at the University of the West Indies, Barbados. In the UK, she has taught courses at the Arvon Foundation Totleigh Banton, Devon; Ty Newydd, Walers; the South Bank Centre and elsewhere.
Senior has been Writer-in-residence in Canada at the University of Alberta and the Banff International Writing Studio, and at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and Trinidad. She has been an Arts Council of England Visiting International Writer, a Hawthornden Fellow, and Dana Distinguished International Writer at St Lawrence University.
Her poetry and fiction have been broadcast on both sides of the Atlantic, including the BBC Book at Bedtime Series and the CBC (Canada) Festival of Fiction. She has also written for radio, including the play ‘Window’ for the CBC and the lengthy poem ‘Ode to Pablo Neruda’ commissioned by Radio 4, England, for their ‘Poet’s Fan Mail’ series. She was Internet Poet-in-residence on the ‘Common . . . Places’ web site launched by the Commonwealth Institute in London, England in 1999 and her poetry has been included in ‘Poems on the Underground’, London Transport.
Senior has read her work, conducted writing workshops or lectured on Caribbean Culture at many venues in Canada, the USA, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Guyana, Martinique, Curacao and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage
by Olive Senior
580 pages
7 x 10 ins (17.75 x 25.5 cm)
• Who is BIG BOY? TACKY? MADAM FATE? MARY SEACOLE?
• What is the difference between ARAWAKS and TAINOS?
• Why MOKO? CATTA? Or Wedding BESSY?
• When would you dance DINKI MINI, GERREH or KUMINA?
• What does HOSAY celebrate?
• Where is FORT NUGENT or GOOD HOPE?
• Why do Jamaican children fear CASTOR OIL?
• Whose FOLLY was it?
• Does PASSION FRUIT make you passionate?
• Do you know how to run DUPPY or play MOONSHINE BABY?
• When was EMANCIPATION?
• What did COLUMBUS discover in 1494?
• How many Jamaican soldiers served in the first WORLD WAR?
This unique sourcebook runs the gamut from ABENG to ZOMBI with nearly 1000 entries and more than 700 illustrations as it explores the various strands of Jamaican Heritage: PEOPLE from all the ethnic and racial groups including the pre-Columbian. The world of NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT — the landscape and geography, historic sites, beauty and recreational spots. PLANTS and ANIMALS. CEREMONIES, CELEBRATIONS — SPORTS, GAMES AND PASTIMES. DOMESTIC and ECONOMIC activities. FOOD, CRAFTS, TRADES and OCCUPATIONS. RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL and CULTURAL activities and institutions. FOLKLORE, MYTHS and LEGENDS. TALES, PROVERBS and SAYINGS. HISTORIC PEOPLE, PLACES and EVENTS.
Its accessible style, cross-references, subject-index and extensive bibliography make it the ideal reference work for students, teachers, librarians, translators and others seeking an introduction as well as a guide to further reading on any of its topics. For Jamaicans — and others — at home or abroad, it will provide countless hours of amusement and entertainment, plus answers to the many questions about who we are.
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