Essay
Redemption Ground
Essays and Adventures
- Publisher
- Véhicule Press
- Published
- March 1, 2023
- Pages
- 165
- Price
- $21.95
- ISBN
- 9781550656213
- Language
- English
On the publisher’s site (opens in a new tab) In bookstores (opens in a new tab)
In her first-ever collection of essays, poet and novelist Lorna Goodison interweaves the personal and political to explore themes that have occupied her working life: her love of poetry and the arts, colonialism and its legacy, racism and social justice, authenticity, and the enduring power of friendship. Taking its title from one of Kingston’s oldest markets, Redemption Ground introduces us to a vivid cast of characters and remembers moments of epiphany—in a cinema in Jamaica, at New York’s Bottom Line club, and as she searched for a Black hairdresser in Paris and drank tea in London’s Marylebone High Street. Enlightening and entertaining, these essays explore not only daily challenges but also the compassion that enables us to rise above them. They confirm her as a major figure in world literature.
Reviews
Praise for From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People:
Steeped in local lore and spiced with infectious dialect and ditties, Goodison’s memoir reaches back over generations to evoke the mythic power of childhood. —Publishers Weekly
Goodison unveils intimate worlds teeming with all the local flavor and poignancy of a Zora Neale Hurston novel. —Kirkus Reviews
Goodison’s prose creates memorable characters … and captures them at memorable moments, managing to remain intimate while simultaneously expanding the family history into a mythology of a distinct place and time. —Globe and Mail
A feat of history, imagination and artistic achievement … [It] is a sumptuous montage of landscapes, portraits and anecdotes—sepia-toned period pieces—that impress vividly upon the mind. —Toronto Star
Description from the publisher Véhicule Press, seen in October 2026 · Source ↗
Also by Lorna Goodison
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The Inferno Dante Alighieri
-
Mother Muse Lorna Goodison
From Véhicule Press
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We Drove All Day for This Bruce Taylor
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Qaf’s People Sadiqa de Meijer
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My Summer Vacation Zeenat Nagree
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Cannibal Rats Richard Greene
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Morgan’s Castle Jan Hilliard
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How to Move On Joel Yanofsky
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Private Number David Homel
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Fan Mail Jason Guriel
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Quietly, Loving Everyone Curtis John McRae
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Stolen Plums Alice Turski
