Stories from Yard
These diverse, subtly constructed stories offer hope amid the violence and fear that some characters experience as they struggle to grow in 'Yard' and other places far from Kingston.
Price
£7.99
Author(s)
Alecia McKenzie
ISBN number
9781900715621
Pages
180
Price
£7.99
Classification
Fiction, Short Stories
Country setting
United States of America
Jamaica
Publication date
09 Sep 2005

In the stories set in Jamaica life is hard, and the comforts of ‘away’ are idealized. But in the cold of the streets of the North, there is no passport to success for the people of Yard. Only their resilience, optimism, humour and friendship (and the comforts of beer and ganja) help them make their way. Meanwhile, in the ‘diaspora dance’ of migrants trying to find their place in Europe or North America, new connections and new possibilities are being created. 

These stories are coolly unsentimental, but also filled with humour and moments of joy, as when Marie, a middle-aged Jamaican reggae singer, finds the sweet flavour of cane juice lingering on her young Brazilian lover’s tongue.

Variations

Alecia McKenzie

Alecia McKenzie was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She started writing while at high school, and her poems were published in local newspapers The Gleaner and The Star. Her first collection of short stories, Satellite City, won the regional Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book.
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