Red Jacket

Growing up as part of a large, loving family on the Caribbean island of St. Chris, Grace Carpenter is happy but puzzled about her identity. Although her extended family is black, she is a redibo, with copper-coloured skin, freckles, reddish hair, and grey eyes. Sometimes she gets called names, but the question of why she is different is never explained.

Pamela Mordecai was born in Jamaica. She has published five collections of poetry and an anthology of short fiction. She has also written many textbooks and edited or co-edited groundbreaking anthologies of Caribbean writing. Her poetry for children is widely anthologized. Her poems have been shortlisted for the Canada Writes CBC Poetry Prize and the Bridport Prize (U.K.). She is the recipient of the Institute of Jamaica's Centenary and Bronze Musgrave Medals, the Vic Reid Award for Children's Writing, and the Burla Award. Pamela lives in Kitchener.