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Search - List of Books by Olive Senior

Olive Marjorie Senior (b. 1941 in Trelawny, Jamaica) is a Jamaican poet and short story writer currently living in Canada.

She went to Montego Bay High School For Girls, then at age 19 joined the staff of the Jamaica Gleaner in Kingston. She later won a scholarship to study journalism in Cardiff, Wales, and then at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. While at University she began writing fiction and poetry. On her return to Jamaica, she worked as a journalist before joining the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of the West Indies, where she edited the journal Social and Economic Studies. In 1982 she joined the Institute of Jamaica as editor of the Jamaica Journal. She also oversaw the publication of a number of books on Jamaican history and culture.

After Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica in 1988, Senior moved to Europe, where she lived for short periods in Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, before settling in Canada in the early 1990s. She returns to Jamaica almost every year.

Senior has published three collections of poems: Talking of Trees (1985), Gardening in the Tropics (1994), and Over the Roofs of the World (2005). Her short story collection Summer Lightning (1986) won the Commonwealth Writers Prize; it was followed by Arrival of the Snake Woman (1989, 2009) and Discerner of Hearts (1995).

Her non-fiction works include The Message Is Change (1972), about Michael Manley's first election victory; A-Z of Jamaican Heritage (1984, expanded and republished as Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage in 2004); and Working Miracles: Women's Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean (1991)

Senior's work often addresses questions of Caribbean identity in terms of gender and ethnicity. She has said: "I've had to deal with race because of who I am and how I look. In that process, I've had to determine who I am. I do not think you can be all things to all people. As part of that process, I decided I was a Jamaican. I represent many different races and I'm not rejecting any of them to please anybody. I'm just who I am and you have to accept me or not."

In 2005, Senior was awarded a Musgrave Gold Medal by the Institute of Jamaica for her contributions to literature.

Sources:

Interviews published in the Jamaica Gleaner:
  • October 31, 2004
  • November 7, 2004
This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Olive Senior", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 27
Anna Carries Water
Anna Carries Water (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9781896580609
ISBN-10: 1896580602
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Arrival of the SnakeWoman and Other Stories
Arrival of the Snakewoman and Other Stories (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781894770538
ISBN-10: 1894770536
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Birthday Suit
Birthday Suit (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781554513680
ISBN-10: 1554513685
Genre: Children's Books
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Boonoonoonous Hair
Boonoonoonous Hair (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781926890074
ISBN-10: 1926890078
Genre: Children's Books
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Das Erscheinen der Schlangenfrau
Das Erscheinen Der Schlangenfrau (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9783293201156
ISBN-10: 3293201156
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Discerner of Hearts
Discerner of Hearts (Paperback)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780771080531
ISBN-10: 0771080530
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Dying to Better Themselves West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal
ECLAIRS DE CHALEUR
Eclairs De Chaleur (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9782881826924
ISBN-10: 288182692X
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Encyclopedia Of Jamaican Heritage
Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9789768007148
ISBN-10: 9768007141
Genres: History, Reference
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Gardening in the Tropics
Gardening in the Tropics (Paperback)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780771080524
ISBN-10: 0771080522
Genre: Crafts, Hobbies & Home
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Gardening in the Tropics New Poems
Gardening in the Tropics New Poems (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781852242930
ISBN-10: 1852242930
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Los fantabulosos vuelos/ The Marvelous Flights
Los Fantabulosos Vuelos/ the Marvelous Flights (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9788493427108
ISBN-10: 8493427101
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Over the Roofs of the World
Over the Roofs of the World (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781894663823
ISBN-10: 1894663829
Genres: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Literature & Fiction
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Quartet of Stories
Quartet of Stories [Modern Women Writers] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780582082984
ISBN-10: 0582082986
Genre: Children's Books
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Shell
Shell (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781897178485
ISBN-10: 1897178484
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Summer Lightning and Other Stories
Summer Lightning and Other Stories [Longman Caribbean Writers Series] (Other)
ISBN-13: 9780582786271
ISBN-10: 0582786274
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Talking of trees
Talking of Trees (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9789768040008
ISBN-10: 9768040009
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Working Miracles Women' Lives in the EnglishSpeaking Caribbean Olive Senior
Working Miracles Women of the Englishspeaking Caribbean
Working Miracles Women of the Englishspeaking Caribbean (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780852552094
ISBN-10: 0852552092
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Working Miracles Women's Lives in the EnglishSpeaking Caribbean
Working Miracles Women's Lives in the Englishspeaking Caribbean (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780253351364
ISBN-10: 0253351367
Genre: Nonfiction
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AZ of Jamaican Heritage
Az of Jamaican Heritage (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780435080075
ISBN-10: 0435080075
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