Nonfiction Books for Caribbean Heritage Month

There are few authors I love more than Jamaica Kincaid. There’s always been something truly magnificent about her work. While she’s most known for her short novels, like Lucy and Annie John, Kincaid can also write a mean essay. So, of course, her new anthology jumped to the top of my TBR. This collection of essays includes pieces from Kincaid’s early career that were published in places like The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and Ms. This book is perfect for commuters or sneaking in a few minutes of reading time between activities at the pool or beach.

Edwidge Danticat is truly a treasure of Haitian Literature, and this is her story. When she was just a girl, her parents left her in the care of her uncle, Joseph. When her parents finally sent for her, she struggled to remember them and grieved for the parental figure she had left behind. Later in 2004, when the political situation in Haiti began to deteriorate, Uncle Joseph was forced to flee to Miami in search of safety. In a whirlwind story of family connection and the tender ties that bind one person to another, Danticat illustrates the strength of familial love, even from across the ocean.

This one’s for the history lovers who adore diving into a tome of a book. In The First and Last King of Haiti, Yale scholar Marlene L. Daut explores the life of Henry Christophe, a complex figure in Haitian history. Born to an enslaved mother in Grenada, Christophe would go on to be a key leader in Haiti’s revolution for independence. Eventually, he would go on to declare himself King of Haiti, but died by suicide nine years later.