Celebrate Caribbean Heritage With These 8 Powerful, Beautiful Reads By Women Authors
The Caribbean is pure magic. And since June is Caribbean Heritage Month, it’s the perfect time to take in a culture that is alive with music that moves your soul, food that tastes like love (shout out to curry goat, doubles, and jerk everything), and people who walk with pride, power, and purpose.
Reggae legends, world-changing leaders, fearless activists, brilliant scientists, and storytellers — Caribbean people have impacted the world in big and beautiful ways.
Whether you’re from the islands or just feel connected, what better time than now to venture beyond vacations and revelry by picking up a book by a Caribbean writer?
These women write with that kind of depth that has you closing the book mid-page like, “Whoa — let me sit with that for a second.”
From autobiographies to historical fiction to romance dramas, here are eight books are written by authors who are truth-tellers — bold, brilliant, and fearless:
Vanessa is known for her captivating character development and plots centered on the historically documented life and times of real people.
This one is no exception, with the central figure being independent Haiti’s first and only queen, Marie-Louise Coidavid, who flees with her two daughters to England after the Haitian Revolution. The biographical factor alone is intriguing.
This book also taps into Haitian history and the power of women in building a nation.
It’s a must-read odyssey of a powerhouse woman who went from being a stationmaster’s daughter to a model, actress, and radio host, and on to become the wife of one of Jamaica’s most charismatic prime ministers, Michael Manley.
It’s a tell-it-like-it-is account of her women’s rights activism in Jamaica, love affairs that made headlines, surviving violence and revolution-laced political drama, and an unapologetic boldness to live life on her own terms.
This is the first novel by this iconic writer, published in 1959 and republished in the ‘80s.
This semi-autobiographical read highlights the Caribbean immigrants in Brooklyn, N.Y. — a coming-of-age story of a Barbadian family that reflects resilience, community connection, and the impact of cultural, financial, and political power in the region still evident today.
If you love historical fiction and crime dramas, this is a winner. The plot happens during the 1873 Tichborne trials, the longest legal case in British history, and includes themes of racism, identity fraud, classism, and legacy of slavery.
The book weaves the stories of Elizabeth Touchet, an Irish housekeeper, and Andrew Bogle, a once-enslaved man from Jamaica, in a case that literally changed laws of the time.
Spanning the three days before a living wake — where tribute is paid to someone still alive, not deceased — this fictional account spans the lived experiences of women of a Dominican family, pivoting between from past to present, and between Santo Domingo and New York City.
Each woman is dealing with challenges including marital infidelity, incarceration, family planning, and identity and they’re finding ways to heal through self-actualization and an acknowledge of familial connections.
This book is a collection of stories about the diverse Puerto Rican experience, from Afro-Puerto Ricans, U.S.-mainland-born Puerto Ricans, and displaced native Puerto Ricans navigating choices, societal limits, and growing pains.
Each story holds a different theme that relates to global adventures, bold life changes, and a need for fulfillment in a lens that reminds the reader that cultural identity is not a monolith.
For all the sociology and political science geeks, this is the perfect read that pinpoints the dynamic global impact of a South American country often marginalized.
Oneka draws from archival research and oral history to examine key aspects of gender, economic systems, and class, across the African and Indian diasporas in the Caribbean-linked region, shining a dynamic light on the role of women in labor, politics, and family life.
Written by a native of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, this collection of stories is set in places ranging from New York and Texas to Guyana and the “ghost island” of Chacachacare.
Some of the stories are laced in Caribbean folklore and the characters are uniquely intriguing: college besties who fall in love, a St. Croix hustler and a leper who claims he can fly. Each covers themes of love, identity, and magic that keeps a reader on their toes.
