Paulette Ramsay
Paulette Ramsay is a Jamaican poet, translator, journalist, novelist, and academic who studies race relations in the Caribbean.
Career and writing[]
She received her PhD from the University of the West Indies; was promoted to professor in the university's Department of Modern Languages & Literatures in 2017; and specializes in the field of Afro-Hispanic Studies, with a particular interest in the Afro-Mexican diaspora.[1][2]
In 2003 Ramsay published a novella, Aunt Jen, a coming-of-age story told as a series of letters from a girl, Sunshine, to her absent mother.[3] It explores themes of growing up in Jamaica in the 1970s, during the early years of the country's independence.[4] In a review, Maureen Warner-Lewis notes Ramsay's "charmingly revelatory" narrative, and notes her use of code-switching in her literary style.[5]
Ramsay has published three collections of free verse poems. Reviewer Barbara Collash describes the first volume, Under Basil Leaves (2010), as displaying a "decidedly female perspective, female sensibility," and says they "constitute a fresh poetic retelling of the black tragic."[6]
She has also published or contributed to numerous textbooks, preparatory texts for the CAPE and CSEC exams, and academic texts.
Honours[]
In 2014, Ramsay received the National Order of Merit from the government of France, in the rank of Chevalier.[7]
In 2018 she received the (FIPA) Award of the Century for Outstanding Scholarship in Literary and Language Studies and Creative Writing.[8]
Selected works[]
- Fiction
- Aunt Jen (2003; novella)
- Poetry
- Under Basil Leaves (2010)[6]
- October Afternoon (2012)
- Star Apple Blue and Avocado Green (2016)
- Nonfiction
- Chevere! (2008; in Spanish; with Anne-Maria Bankay, Ingrid Kemchand, and Elaine Watson-Grant)
- Blooming With The Pouis: Critical Thinking, Reading And Writing Across The Curriculum (2009)
- Afro-Mexican Constructions of Diaspora, Gender, Identity and Nation (2016)[2]
- The Afro-Hispanic Readers and Anthology (2018; editor)
- Translations
- On Friday Night, by Luz Argentina Chiriboga (2009; with Anne-Maria Bankay)
References[]
- ^ "Dr. Paulette Ramsay promoted to Professor". University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Liu, Jackson (21 April 2017). "Paulette Ramsay wants to highlight the importance of the Afro-Mexican diaspora". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Forbes, Curdella (June 2004). "Book reviews". Caribbean Quarterly. 50 (2): 81–84. doi:10.1080/00086495.2004.11672234. JSTOR 40654454.
- ^ Gray, Paige (2015). "'A Different Sunshine': Writing Jamaican National Identity through a Girl's Coming-of-Age Story in Paulette Ramsay's 'Aunt Jen'". Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature. 53 (2): 12–20. doi:10.1353/bkb.2015.0042.
- ^ Warner-Lewis, Maureen (November 2002). "Book review". Journal of West Indian Literature. 11 (2): 80–85. JSTOR 23019828.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Collash, Barbara (12 June 2011). "Ramsay Explores Life 'Under Basil Leaves'". The Gleaner. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Corporate Sightings". The Gleaner. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Professor Paulette Ramsay Receives FIPA International Centennial Writing Award". University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
Further reading[]
- Ramsay, Paulette; Walker, Carrie J. (November 2014). "Out Of Many, One Voice: An Interview with Paulette Ramsay". Journal of West Indian Literature. 22 (2): 42–58. JSTOR 24615459.
- 1956 births
- Living people
- University of the West Indies academics
- University of the West Indies alumni
- 21st-century Jamaican novelists
- 21st-century Jamaican poets
- 21st-century Jamaican women writers
- Jamaican women novelists
- Jamaican women poets
- Jamaican non-fiction writers
- Spanish–English translators
- Jamaican academics
- Jamaican women academics
- Knights of the National Order of Merit (France)
- 21st-century translators