Makeda Silvera (born 1955 in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

) is a

Jamaican Canadian Jamaican-Canadians are Canadian citizens of Jamaican descent or Jamaican-born permanent residents of Canada. The population, according to Canada's 2021 Census, is 249,070. Jamaican Canadians comprise about 30% of the entire Black Canadian popu ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

writer.

Biography

Silvera emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at the age of 12 with her family, and currently lives in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. She published two volumes of short stories in the 1990s before releasing her first novel, ''The Revenge of Maria'', in 1998, followed by ''The Heart Does Not Bend'' in 2002. An

out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, she cofounded Sister Vision Press, with Stephanie Martin in 1985, and worked and as managing editor, edited a number of anthologies, including ''Piece of My Heart'' (1991), the first North American anthology of literature by lesbians of colour. Sister Vision, which published 50 titles, closed in 2001. ''Piece of My Heart'' was described in the '' Canadian Journal of Women and the Law'' as "a landmark collection of disparate lesbian voices. By combining reprinted material by such renowned lesbian writers as

Audre Lorde Audre Lorde ( ; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, professor, philosopher, Intersectional feminism, intersectional feminist, poet and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Bl ...

Cheryl Clarke Cheryl L. Clarke (born Washington D.C., May 16, 1947) is an American lesbian poet, essayist, educator, and Black feminist community activist. Her scholarship focuses on African-American women's literature, black lesbian feminism, and the Black A ...

, Jewell L. Gomez,

Chrystos Chrystos (; born November 7, 1946, as Christina Smith) is a two-spirit writer and activist whose work explores Native American civil rights, social justice, and feminism. They are of mixed Menominee– Lithuanian/ Alsace–Lorraine heritage. C ...

, and

Barbara Smith Barbara Smith (born November 16, 1946) is an American lesbian feminist and socialist who has played a significant role in Black feminism in the United States. Since the early 1970s, she has been active as a scholar, activist, critic, lecturer, ...

with work by such thought-provoking new writers as Raymina Y. Mays, Karin Aguilar-San Juan, Milagros Paredes, and Nice Rodriguez, Silvera creates an enduring testimony to the inextricable connection between literature and

social activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

for innumerable multi-ethnic and multi-racial lesbians."

Works

* ''Silenced: Caribbean Domestic Workers Talk With Makeda Silvera'' (1989, interviews) * ''Remembering G'' (1990, short stories) * ''Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian-of-Colour Anthology'' (1991, ed.) * ''Her Head a Village'' (1994, short stories) * ''The Other Woman: Women of Colour in Contemporary Canadian Literature'' (1994, ed.) * ''Ma-Ka: Diaspora Juks'' (1997, ed.) * ''The Heart Does Not Bend'' (2002, novel)

References

1955 births Living people Canadian women novelists Jamaican women short story writers Jamaican short story writers Jamaican emigrants to Canada Jamaican LGBTQ novelists Jamaican lesbians Lesbian novelists Canadian lesbian writers Canadian LGBTQ novelists Canadian women short story writers Writers from Kingston, Jamaica Novelists from Toronto Jamaican women novelists Black Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Jamaican novelists 21st-century Jamaican novelists 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Jamaican LGBTQ people 21st-century Jamaican writers 20th-century Jamaican LGBTQ people 20th-century Jamaican writers Black Canadian novelists Black Canadian women novelists Black Canadian short story writers {{Canada-writer-stub