Anthologies

Pamela Mordecai’s anthologies — Jamaica Woman, From Our Yard, and Her True-true Name—stand as foundational texts that broadened, diversified, and legitimized the Caribbean literary canon by foregrounding women’s voices, post-independence identity, and cultural authenticity.

For The Literary Review 35:4, Mordecai’s work deepened its reputation as a journal of world literature, adding Caribbean women’s poetry to its roster of global special issues. Like Jamaica Woman and Her True-true Name, this issue is part of Mordecai’s sustained project to archive, validate, and promote women’s voices as central to Caribbean literature. For Mordecai herself, it demonstrates her role not only as a poet but as a cultural curator and canon-builder, someone who actively shaped the visibility and reception of Caribbean women’s writing.

In Calling Cards, Mordecai’s editorial work continues her earlier mission (Jamaica Woman, Her True-true Name) of centring women’s voices, but expands the scope to include diasporic negotiations of identity. The anthology features six women poets (four of Caribbean heritage and two not) all living in Canada who span generations (from their 20s to mid-60s) and diverse identities (African-Caribbean heritage, LGBTQ+ voices, motherhood, religious backgrounds). The collection emphasizes plurality and intersectionality, showing how Caribbean identity evolves in diaspora and interacts with Canadian cultural contexts.