Stories about Jamaica
Jamaica wakes up to the plight of prisoners with mental illness
Noel Chambers, 81, had been in Jamaica's prison system for 40 years without a trial when he died in horrible conditions. Now, his case is being used to help other...
Jamaica’s Brian Heap, Caribbean regional winner of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, talks storytelling
"Jamaican language [...] is designed to subvert the English language. I love its frequent juxtaposition of archaic English words and African expressions and syntax, [...] used to sometimes devastating effect."
Speaking with Jamaica’s Brian Heap, Caribbean regional winner of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
"Jamaica is so rich in stories [...] It’s so important for us to delve into the inner life of Jamaican subjects."
Black Lives Matter in Jamaica, too
"Some of you outraged at the people in America demonizing victims of police brutality and don't realise you do the same thing here."
Restarting Caribbean economies under threat of COVID-19
As a major source of foreign exchange and employment for most of the region, safely opening up borders to overseas visitors has become ever more pressing.
Is the Caribbean winning the fight against COVID-19?
Could the region be past the worst — or simply enjoying a quieter period before the much-feared second wave?
Has COVID-19 worsened or improved Jamaican family dynamics?
The COVID-19 restrictions in Jamaica have diminished some families' already limited economic power while heaping additional responsibilities on parents. How are different types of families coping?
‘Born Ya': Speaking with Jamaican fine artist Judy Ann MacMillan about her new autobiography
"Fine art itself is under intense challenge in Jamaica, as it is elsewhere. The tenets [...] are in conflict with social improvement, political messages and democratic ideas."
‘If a dirt, a dirt': COVID-19 and the reopening of the Jamaican economy
"Once things have “opened up” it will be back to normal. I don’t believe it will be a “new normal” – just normal."
COVID-19 in the Caribbean: ‘Looking out, not going out’
Though regional citizens are still laying low as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have been recording their thoughts in various ways, while in relative isolation.
Bocas Lit Fest crowdsources ‘100 Caribbean books that made us’
The regional literature festival says the initiative “isn’t a competition, but a chance to curate the stories that hold pride of place" on readers' bookshelves and in their hearts.
COVID-19 regulations and the issue of overcrowding in Jamaica's markets
The detection of more than 100 positive coronavirus cases at a call centre seriously spiked Jamaica's numbers and prompted stricter safety regulations — but have some backfired?
Jamaican activists spent Earth Day at home, online
Jamaican netizens explored the connections between COVID-19 and climate change and the response has been so strong that Earth Day has turned into Earth Week.
Will the rejection of Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel's murder appeal make him ‘even more of a martyr'?
Exactly six years after Vybz Kartel was given a life sentence for the murder of Clive Williams, Jamaica's Court of Appeal upheld his conviction, but reserved judgment on sentencing.
Cooped up? Trinidad & Tobago's Bocas LitFest has released its 2020 longlist
Self-quarantined? Dive into any of these “nine books by writers with roots in seven Caribbean territories,” which just made the 2020 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature longlist.
New COVID-19 disaster area order places a Jamaican community under quarantine, but ‘not under curfew’
As Jamaica confirms eight cases of COVID-19, the government has activated legislation which expands the authorities' powers in an effort to contain the outbreak.
Life in the time of COVID-19: Jamaicans adjust their lifestyles as country records second case
After two cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in Jamaica, anxiety is high and Jamaicans are limiting their social contact.
Caribbean tourism threatened by the region's first cases of COVID-19
Three confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus have shown up in the French-speaking Caribbean and another in the Dominican Republic, placing the region on even greater alert.
A rash of ‘travel bans’ as the Caribbean gets serious about coronavirus
Several Caribbean territories, including Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Dominica, and Trinidad and Tobago, have imposed travel bans to and from China.
