Telling stories of ordinary lives with extraordinary skill, Pamela Mordecai draws delicately detailed portraits of life in Jamaica and other islands, with occasional trips to Canada. Her characters speak with the cadences of the Caribbean, and cope with the universal experiences of birth and death, joy and betrayal.

In “Hartstone High”, a group of girls learn the high price of education; in “Alvin's Ilk”, a self-centred teenaged boy comes to see his elderly neighbour in a whole new way; and in “Shining Waters”, a young priest’s plans for his new parish go horribly awry. Mordecai turns a sharp ear to the nuances of everyday speech, exposing the currents beneath the calm exterior and producing complex tales that will challenge and entertain her readers.

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Toronto writer Pamela Mordecai is also an editor, publisher, teacher, actor, and former TV presenter. A veteran anthologist, she co-edited the ground-breaking collections Jamaica Woman and Her True-True Name, the first collection of fiction by women from English-, French-, and Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. In 1993 her book Ezra's Goldfish and Other Storypoems was the first winner of the Vic Reid Award, Jamaica's top literary prize for children's literature. She has published two earlier poetry collections, Journey Poem and de Man. Her poems have been selected for numerous anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse, The Heinemann Anthology of Caribbean Poetry, Eyeing the North Star, Sisters of Caliban, and Wheel and Come Again. Poems from Certifiable have appeared in Descant, Callaloo, The Literary Review, Obsidian, Macomere, and other literary journals in Canada, Jamaica, the US, Germany, and England.

Pamela Mordecai's profile page

“Mordecai serves up violence, internalized racism, the varied failures of fathers, brothers, wives and mothers and children with an unexpected yet highly fluid mix of picaresque humour and unsparing human observation. Where the Jamaican rhythms and references and vocabulary of her narrators might sometimes confuse, her story structures and sharp character studies work to deftly gather things together. The book deserves and rewards a contemplative read.” — Jim Bartley, the Globe and Mail

“Her subjects are diverse, her storytelling immediate — especially in her use of a vibrant, dynamic language that superbly articulates an irrepressible Jamaican spirit.” — Donna Bailey Nurse, Toronto Star