Four years ago while performing at the Weekenz venue in Kingston, poet Staceyann Chin was heckled by the audience. They did not take much to her being openly gay.
Chin, 35, was in less-hostile company last month when she read from her memoir, The Other Side of Paradise, at the Calabash International Literary Festival in St Elizabeth.
The book was released in the United States by Simon and Schuster in April. Chin revisits her childhood in Paradise, a rough community in St James where she and her older brother were raised by their maternal grandmother.
Therapeutic
She also writes about living as a gay person in Jamaica where there is widespread intolerance towards homosexuals. Chin told Tidbits Thursday that writing the book was therapeutic.
"It's my coming-of-age tale of growing up in Jamaica," she said.
Chin says she was abandoned as an infant by her Afro-Jamaican mother who came back briefly into her life when she was nine years old. The man her mother claims is her father, a Chinese businessman from Montego Bay, has denied being her parent.
Strong reviews
The Other Side of Paradise has enjoyed strong reviews.
"She shows me a culture I knew far too little about - the everyday life of young people in Jamaica and the threat of violence looming over anyone who might be too independent or queer or outrageous. How wonderful that this outrageous, talented, determined woman has given us her story," wrote Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina.
Russell Simmons, principal of Def Comedy Jam and Def Jam Records, was also full of praise: "Staceyann's courage, sensitivity, and bravery are exposed on these vulnerable pages. Captured is the fire, passion and light I experience when she performs," said Simmons.
After graduating from Shortwood Teachers' College, Chin attended the University of the West Indies where she majored in psycology and literature. It was while at the Mona campus that she came to accept her sexuality.
"I developed feelings for women who I had friendships with," she said. "I had male relationships but I realised that I was a lesbian."
Chin left Jamaica for New York City after graduating from the UWI. She says the anti-gay movement in her homeland is too strong.
"If I choose to have a relation with a woman, I want to do it in a place where I feel safe," she said.
Staceyann Chin's promotional tour for The Other Side of Paradise has taken her to major cities throughout the United States. She has dates scheduled for Toronto and South Africa.
Chin ... "I developed feelings for women who I had friendships with," she said. "I had male relationships but I realised that I was a lesbian."
'How wonderful that this outrageous, talented, determined woman has given us her story.'
- Dorothy Allison
Chin, 35, was in less-hostile company last month when she read from her memoir, The Other Side of Paradise, at the Calabash International Literary Festival in St Elizabeth.
The book was released in the United States by Simon and Schuster in April. Chin revisits her childhood in Paradise, a rough community in St James where she and her older brother were raised by their maternal grandmother.
Therapeutic
She also writes about living as a gay person in Jamaica where there is widespread intolerance towards homosexuals. Chin told Tidbits Thursday that writing the book was therapeutic.
"It's my coming-of-age tale of growing up in Jamaica," she said.
Chin says she was abandoned as an infant by her Afro-Jamaican mother who came back briefly into her life when she was nine years old. The man her mother claims is her father, a Chinese businessman from Montego Bay, has denied being her parent.
Strong reviews
The Other Side of Paradise has enjoyed strong reviews.
"She shows me a culture I knew far too little about - the everyday life of young people in Jamaica and the threat of violence looming over anyone who might be too independent or queer or outrageous. How wonderful that this outrageous, talented, determined woman has given us her story," wrote Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina.
Russell Simmons, principal of Def Comedy Jam and Def Jam Records, was also full of praise: "Staceyann's courage, sensitivity, and bravery are exposed on these vulnerable pages. Captured is the fire, passion and light I experience when she performs," said Simmons.
After graduating from Shortwood Teachers' College, Chin attended the University of the West Indies where she majored in psycology and literature. It was while at the Mona campus that she came to accept her sexuality.
"I developed feelings for women who I had friendships with," she said. "I had male relationships but I realised that I was a lesbian."
Chin left Jamaica for New York City after graduating from the UWI. She says the anti-gay movement in her homeland is too strong.
"If I choose to have a relation with a woman, I want to do it in a place where I feel safe," she said.
Staceyann Chin's promotional tour for The Other Side of Paradise has taken her to major cities throughout the United States. She has dates scheduled for Toronto and South Africa.
Chin ... "I developed feelings for women who I had friendships with," she said. "I had male relationships but I realised that I was a lesbian."
'How wonderful that this outrageous, talented, determined woman has given us her story.'
- Dorothy Allison
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