The Peepal Tree Book of Contemporary Caribbean Short Stories

by Jeremy Poynting (Editor )

Since its beginnings in 1985, Peepal Tree has published around 45 collections of Caribbean short stories, reinforcing the view that the short story is the Caribbean literary form par excellence. This anthology draws from those collections, focusing on work written over the past twenty years, the majority dealing with the recent post-independence period up to the present. Though quality is the ultimate criteria, this anthology is unrivalled in its range across the Anglophone Caribbean and its diasporas, and of Caribbean ethnicities, gender and sexual orientations. Stories offer images of the city from ghettos to gated communities, suburbia, villages, the coastal margins. They display a range of contemporary concerns: social fragmentation, political corruption, sexual politics. They display a range of short story genres from fictive autobiography, the conte, the cautionary or moral tale, satire, gritty realism, magical realism, fantasy, the gothic, the folkloric, horror, crime, and the speculative…

Whilst the stories in the anthology collectively offer an insightful picture of both the contemporary Caribbean and of the current status of the Caribbean short story as a form, the overall editorial aim has been to create a book that gives the reader a rich, varied and rewarding reading experience.

The collection includes the work of, amongst others, Opal Palmer Adisa, Christine Barrow, Rhoda Bharath, Jacqueline Bishop, Hazel Campbell, Merle Collins, Jacqueline Crooks, Kwame Dawes, Curdella Forbes, Ifeona Fulani, Kevin Jared Hosein, Keith Jardim, Barbara Jenkins, Meiling Jin, Cherie Jones, Helen Klonaris, Sharon Leach, Alecia McKenzie, Sharon Millar, Breanne Mc Ivor, Anton Nimblett, Geoffrey Philp, Velma Pollard, Jennifer Rahim, Raymond Ramcharitar, Jacob Ross, Leone Ross, Olive Senior, Jan Shinebourne and Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw.

Genres: Short Stories

460 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed reading The Peepal Tree Book of Contemporary Caribbean Short Stories and I think if you are looking to read Caribbean, this is a great place to start. This huge collection features over 30 stories from Writers all across the Caribbean. I felt these stories all represented the Caribbean in a realistic and authentic way and I think that is what I loved most about the collection. What I also loved and is happy to report, is that a third of this collection features female writers. These stories were all written in the 2000s so you are getting a more "contemporary " look into Caribbean life.

I gave this book four stars because majority of these books were four or five stars. However, there are some stories that really stood out to me. They made me laugh out loud, shake my head in agreement and left me in awe. They include:
- Mapping by Merle Hodge
-In the Gully by Kwame Dawes
-Fevergrass Tea by Ifeona Fulani
-I Have Never Heard Pappy Play the Hawaiian Guitar by Barbara Jenkins
-Weeds by Helen Klonaris
-Mortals by Sharon Leach
-The Course by Breanne McIovr
-Planes in the Distance by Alecia McKenzie
-The Bats of Love by Mark McWatt
-My Brother's Keeper by Geoffery Philip
-Stranger by Jennifer Rahim
-Rum an Coke by Jacob Ross

I highly highly recommend you pick this book up and get to know some amazing Caribbean authors.