Rachel Manley (born 1955) is a Jamaican writer in verse and prose, born in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, raised in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and currently (as of August 2020) residing in Canada. She is a daughter of the former Jamaican prime minister,

Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Jamaica, from 1972 to 1980, and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...

. She was briefly married to George Albert Harley de Vere Drummond, father of the film director

Matthew Vaughn Sir Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn (legal name Matthew Allard Robert de Vere Drummond; born 7 March 1971) is an English filmmaker. He has produced films including ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) and ''Snatch (film), Snatch'' (2000 ...

. She edited her grandmother

Edna Manley Edna Swithenbank Manley, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (28 February 1900 – 9 February 1987) is considered one of the most important artists and arts educators in Jamaica. She was known primarily as a sculptor, although her oeuvre included ...

's diaries, which were published in 1989. She won the

Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a non-fiction book written in English. Since 1987 it is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Litera ...

in 1997 for her memoir ''Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood'' (1996). She has since published more memoirs and some volumes of verse. Her other biographical works include ''Horses in Her Hair: A Granddaughter's Story'' (2008), ''In My Father's Shade'' (2004) and ''Slipstream'' (2000).. In 2025 she co-authored with her son, Drum Manley Drummond, George the Last, a biography of George Albert Harley DeVere Drummond. She published her first novel, ''The Black Peacock'', in 2017. The book was a shortlisted finalist for the 2018

Amazon.ca First Novel Award The Amazon Canada First Novel Award, formerly the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the pre ...

Selected bibliography

* ''A Light Left On'' (poetry), 1992 * ''Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood'' (memoir), 1996 * ''Slipstream'' , 2000 * ''In My Father's Shade'', 2004 * ''Horses in Her Hair: A Granddaughter's Story'', 2008 * ''The Black Peacock'' (novel), 2017 * "George the Last", 2025

Footnotes

1955 births 20th-century Canadian memoirists 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian memoirists 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers British emigrants to the British West Indies Canadian women memoirists Canadian women novelists Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers Jamaican emigrants to Canada Jamaican non-fiction writers Jamaican women writers Living people

Rachel Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older siste ...

Children of prime ministers of Jamaica {{Canada-writer-stub