Alecia McKenzie's Stories from Yard turns 20 years old on 9 September 2025. To celebrate, we've reissued this evergreen title with a bold new cover. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
About the book
In this collection of captivating short stories set in Jamaica and other countries, female characters rely on their resilience, creativity, optimism, humour, and friendship to help them make their way in a difficult world. Diverse and subtly constructed, the stories employ gritty realism and irony, which are in constant tension with possibility and hope — as a child overcomes her fear of roaches to get an education, a middle-aged reggae singer finds happiness with a younger lover, and estranged friends seek forgiveness . . . which may or may not come.
About the author
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. Sweetheart was awarded the Prix Carbet des lycéens in 2017.
