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Diversify Your Shelf: Books Written by Caribbean Authors
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items As a first generation Afro-Caribbean American woman, it's important that I prioritize stories that uplift and highlight the experiences that I know intimately. If you're looking to diversify your reads and learn more about the Caribbean, here's the p...
Sections
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Books Set In The Caribbean 🌴
LGBTQ+ 🌈🌴
Books Set Abroad ✈️
Spiritual Wellness 🍃
Books Set In The Caribbean 🌴
A few of my fave books written by Caribbean authors
🇯🇲 Written by renowned Jamaican author, Marlon James, this book follows the lives of enslaved women in 1800s Jamaica as they are on the brink of planning a revolt. This book humanizes the women in a way that's raw, unnerving and heartbreaking. Ther...
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
🇧🇧🇨🇦 Written by Bajan-Canadian author, Jasmine Sealy, The Island of Forgetting is an intergenerational contemporary fiction. It follows 3 generations of a family as the navigate familial relationship, identity, grief and more. 🇧🇧
The Island of Forgetting by Jasmine Sealy
🇭🇹 A series of stories detailing the diverse lives of Haitian people.
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
🇯🇲 An anthology of what it means to be Jamaican. A diverse set of stories of Jamaicans back home on the island and living abroad.
How to Love a Jamaican: Stories by Alexia Arthurs
🇯🇲 Margot has had an extremely tough life, largely due to the relationship with her mother, Delores. She is determined for her younger sister, Thandi to have a different experience. This story follows all three ladies as they navigate their persona...
Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
🇧🇧 This book is one of my faves and shows the reader how every action has a consequence. It was a dark read but it had me hooked throughout the entire story!
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
LGBTQ+ 🌈🌴
🇯🇲🇨🇦 A story of two young women navigating their changing relationship during one of the most difficult political times in Jamaicas history. Genre • Historical Fiction, Romance
Songs Of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield
🇹🇹 Moving between Trinidad + NYC, this book was an exploration of love – how the way that we give and receive it can potentially change our lives. Loved this one!
Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
Books Set Abroad ✈️
🇵🇷🇩🇴 Written by Puerto Rican-Dominican author, Natalie Guerrero, this book follows Xiomara as she's learning to redefine her dreams following the death of her sister. This book was raw, emotional and (to me) a true depiction of what grief can loo...
My Train Leaves at Three by Natalie Guerrero
🇬🇾 The story of a young Guyanese girl sent to America with the promise of a better life and tasked with making enough money to pay the family debt and bring the entire family to the States. A heart wrenching book but necessary and beautifully writt...
A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl: Novel
🇩🇴 The story of an older Dominican woman who has lost her job due to the recession. For assistance with finding a new job, Cara must attend a series of therapy type sessions. During these sessions, Cara recounts moments that have transformed her li...
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water: A Novel
🇯🇲🇨🇦 This story follows Kara, a young first generation Jamaican-Canadian as she navigates what it means to be Jamaican and a first generation Canadian. She navigates understanding herself, her culture and her personal identity.
Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
🇯🇲 Written by Queer, Jamaican author, this book follows Patsy, a woman who migrants to NYC and is navigating sexual identity, a mother daughter relationship and so much more. A Top Read of 2025
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
🇯🇲🏴 This book follows Connie, a migrant from Jamaica and Daphne, a first generation British-Jamaica as they navigate their relationship over 10+ years. This book also explores the racial tensions of England in the 1980's and 90's.
Jamaica Road: A Novel by Lisa Smith
The story of an older Dominican 🇩🇴 woman who has lost her job due to the recession. For assistance with finding a new job, Cara must attend a series of therapy type sessions. During these sessions, Cara recounts moments that have transformed her li...
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water: A Novel
Spiritual Wellness 🍃
🇬🇾 Learning from this Goddess was an absolute joy. Highly recommend this book for anyone looking to start their herbalism journey while centering Afro-Indigenous practices.
Art & Practice of Spiritual Herbalism: Transform, Heal, and Remember with the Power of Plants and Ancestral Medicine by Empress Karen Rose
🇬🇾 Looking to learn more about the divine feminine energy hailing from the Caribbean and Africa … then this book is a beautiful starting point. It's filled with tons of stories about different Goddesses and rituals to honor them and yourself.
African Goddess Initiation