Alecia McKenzie

Alecia McKenzie (born 1962) is a Jamaican writer, editor, painter and journalist born in Kingston, Jamaica and currently based in France.

Life McKenzie studied at Alpha Academy in Kingston, Troy University in Alabama, and Columbia University in New York, focusing on languages, art and journalism. At Troy University, she was the first Jamaican editor of the student newspaper, The Tropolitan, and graduated summa cum laude.

She has worked for various international news organizations and has taught Communications at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Besides Jamaica, she has lived in the United States, Belgium, England and Singapore and now mainly shares her time between France, where she is based with her family, and the Caribbean.

Writing career McKenzie's first collection of short stories, Satellite City, won the regional Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean). Her second book, When the Rain Stopped in Natland, is a novella for young readers, and has been included on the literacy program in several schools.

That was followed by a novella for teenagers, Doctor’s Orders, which is a part-adventure, part-detective story, with mostly teenage characters, set in the Caribbean; and a second collection of stories, Stories from Yard, first published in its Italian translation, and by Peepal Tree Press in 2005. Her fifth book, Sweetheart, a novel, was on 21 May 2012 announced as the Caribbean regional winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize 2012. The French translation of Sweetheart (Trésor) won the Prix Carbet des lycéens in 2017 - translated by S. Schler.

In 2020, her novel A Million Aunties was published in the Caribbean and North America, and it went on to be longlisted for the 2022 International Dublin Literary Award. Hardback and paperback editions were published in the United Kingdom in 2022 and 2023 respectively. In 2025, Stories from Yard was reissued with a new cover to celebrate its 20th anniversary on 9 September 2025. Extranezas cosmopolitas (Spanish), and Rómanska Ameríka (Icelandic). Literary magazines and sites that have carried her short fiction include The Malahat Review and Culture (French).

Her poetry has also been published in the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, the Journal of Caribbean Literatures, Leggere Donna, The Gleaner and other publications.

As a reporter, she has written numerous articles that have appeared in a range of media, including The Guardian, Black Enterprise, The Wall Street Journal Europe, New African, and Chess Life.

Books Satellite City, Longman, 1992, When the Rain Stopped in Natland, Illustrator Guy Parker-Rees, Longman, 1995, Doctor’s Orders, Heinemann, 2005, Stories from Yard, Peepal Tree Press, 2005 (reissued 2025), Sweetheart, Peepal Tree Press, 2011, A Million Aunties, Blouse & Skirt Books & Akashic Books, 2020, and Dialogue Publishing, 2022, 2023, Gone to The Dogs (Madame), KRK Ediciones, Oviedo, 2023,

Selected translations De Perros (Madame), KRK Ediciones, Oviedo, 2023, translated by Emilia Maria Duran Almarza Schätzchen (Sweetheart), edition pen im Loecker Verlag, Wien, 2020,

Awards and recognition 2022 - International Dublin Literary Award Longlist for A Million Aunties 2019 – Sunday Times Short Story Award longlist. 2017 – Prix Carbet des lycéens Winner for Trésor, the French translation of Sweetheart 2015 – Commonwealth Short Story Prize Shortlist for Cindy's Class 2012 – Commonwealth Book Prize Winner, Caribbean region, for Sweetheart 1993 – Commonwealth Writers' Prize Winner, Best First Book, Canada & the Caribbean, for Satellite City