How to Love a Jamaican
Jamaica

How to Love a Jamaican

by Alexia Arthurs

Identity & Belonging Literary Fiction Fiction Short Stories 2018

Summary

How to Love a Jamaican is a collection of short stories exploring love, family, migration, and the complexities of Jamaican identity. Moving between Jamaica and the Jamaican diaspora in the United States, Alexia Arthurs portrays characters navigating the tensions between cultural heritage and the desire for a different life. Her stories follow young people confronting sexuality and social expectations, immigrants struggling to belong in unfamiliar places, and families negotiating the emotional distance created by migration. Through intimate relationships and everyday encounters, Arthurs examines how race, class, religion, and national identity shape the ways people understand themselves and one another. Blending humor, tenderness, and emotional honesty, the collection offers a nuanced portrait of Jamaican life across borders, revealing the complicated meanings of home, belonging, and love.

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Country
Jamaica
North America
About the author
Alexia Arthurs
Alexia Arthurs

Alexia Arthurs is a Jamaican American writer known for her intimate, emotionally nuanced stories exploring migration, identity, family, love, and the complexities of belonging between cultures. Born and raised in Jamaica, she later moved to the United States, where she studied at the University of Iowa and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her debut short-story collection, How to Love a Jamaican (2018), examines the experiences of Jamaicans living both on the island and abroad, portraying the tensions between cultural tradition and personal freedom. Through vivid characters and sensitive storytelling, Arthurs explores race, sexuality, religion, and the emotional consequences of leaving home. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker and The Paris Review, establishing her as a distinctive voice in contemporary Caribbean and diasporic literature.

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Details
Published
2018
Author
Alexia Arthurs