Collection: V.S. Reid

Victor Stafford Reid (1913-1987) was born in Kingston, Jamaica. His first novel, New Day (1949) was a landmark in Caribbean writing for its use of Jamaican nation-language as the language of fiction, and its broad historical sweep announced the Jamaican people’s urge to sweep away colonialism. His second novel, The Leopard (1958), was a major artistic statement of the Anglophone Caribbean’s belated involvement with Africa. He wrote one further historical novel, The Jamaicans (1979), and four novels for children: Sixty-Five, The Young Warriors, Peter of Mount Ephraim and Nanny-Town. He was awarded the Order of Jamaica in 1980, and the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in Literature in 1981.