[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Olivia Emily (Country & Town House) gives us five recommendations for this June (in alphabetical order): For Such a Time as This, by Shani Akilah; Here Comes the Sun, by Nicole Dennis-Benn; A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James; How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir, by Safiya Sinclair; and Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson.

We take this opportunity to add that Safiya Sinclair (born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica) is the author of the memoir How to Say Babylon, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography, winner of the overall OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, a finalist the Kirkus Prize, and shortlisted for the Women’s Prize in Non-Fiction. [See our previous post Safiya Sinclair-OCM Bocas Lit Prize Winner.]

Olivia Emily writes:  Every June is Caribbean Heritage Month, and one of the best ways to celebrate and learn all about Caribbean history and culture is to pick up a book and start reading. Whether that’s books by Caribbean authors, books about the sun-soaked islands or books set there, there’s plenty of scope to pair up with other Heritage Month celebrations. Here are five recommendations to get you started this year. [. . .]

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James: Ten years after it was first published, this Booker Prize Winner is garnering attention again with beautiful anniversary editions. James transports us to Jamaica, 1976. Seven gunmen storm Bob Marley’s house, machine guns blazing. The reggae superstar survives – but the gunmen are never caught. James reimagines this modern myth of an event, chronicling the lives of a host of unforgettable characters: slum kids, one-night stands, drug lords, girlfriends, gunmen, journalists and even the CIA. [. . .]

How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir by Safiya Sinclair: Shortlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, How To Say Babylon chronicles Safiya Sinclair’s youth growing up in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where luxury hotels line pristine white sand beaches – and her Rastafari father railed against the corrupting influence of the immoral western world. As Sinclair reflects on this upbringing and seeks to understand the past of her family, she illuminates a world that is little understood by those outside of it. [. . .]

For Such A Time As This by Shani Akilah: From a new voice in the literary sphere, For Such A Time As This delves into the lives of Black-British Londoners as they explore situationships and romance, family and community, independence, and navigate their way through the experiences that make them who they are across a range of short stories. [. . .]

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson: Now a major TV series starring Mia Isaac and featured on Barack Obama’s summer reading list, Black Cake centres on the estranged children of Eleanor Bennett, Benny and Byron. When they reunite for Eleanor’s funeral, they receive an unexpected inheritance: a traditional Caribbean black cake to remind them of their roots – and the story of a decades-old murder. [. . .]

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn: Here Comes the Sun is a tender ode to the Jamaican world hidden among pristine beaches and the wide expanse of turquoise seas. Capturing the distinct rhythms of Jamaican’s life and dialect, we follow Margot, a young woman working at an opulent beach resort in Montego Bay, grappling to send her younger sister Thandi to school. [. . .]

For more information, including links for purchasing, see https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/culture/caribbean-heritage-month-reading-recommendations