Place of birth
Jamaica
Place of residence
Europe
National identity
Jamaica
Gender
Female

Alecia McKenzie

Short biography
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.

Her other published books include Stories from Yard, Doctor’s OrdersWhen the Rain Stopped in Natland and Sweetheart. Her work has also appeared in literary magazines and various anthologies such as Stories from Blue Latitudes, Global Tales and the first Girls’ Night In. Sweetheart was the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize Caribbean Regional Winner. You can read more about the Prize at Commonwealth Writers.

In 2017, the French translation of Sweetheart (Trésor) was awarded the Prix Carbet des Lycéens, chosen by students in Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique and from the Lycée International in London.

Alecia attended Alpha Academy in Kingston, holds an MSc from Columbia University in New York, a B.A. from Troy (State) University, and has done postgraduate studies in London. She taught Communications and Creative Writing at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Vesalius College) in Belgium for 12 years and occasionally does creative writing workshops in Paris, along with reporting for a news agency and contributing articles to New African magazine.  

Alecia produced the cover artwork for two of her books, and her paintings have been exhibited in several cities, including Kingston, New York and Paris. Besides Jamaica, she has lived in the United States, Belgium, the UK, Singapore and France. She and her family currently share their time mainly between the Caribbean and Europe.