Ja-born centenarian author releases latest book

Washington DC:

Retired educator, Sybil Leslie, has launched her latest book as a contribution to the effort to retain Jamaica’s cultural heritage, especially among younger Jamaicans in the diaspora.

Leslie’s passion for spreading Jamaican culture springs to life from the pages of the delightfully little volume, “ Uncle Zekie Seh: Tales of Old Jamaica”, now available.

Few have a better sense of the island’s history and traditions than this centenarian who hails from Bethel Town, Westmoreland, Jamaica.

Leslie brings back fond memories of a Jamaica of many years ago, which she shares through iconic portraits captured in snippets like the classic Jamaican Sunday dinner or harvest festival – vignettes of life in the delightful “old Jamaica” in sections she titles: Food and Dining Traditions, Household Chores, Self-Care, Church, Having Fun, Celebrations, and Folklore, ending with the Anansi. She says the aim is to bring “these rich traditions back to life”.

In the preface to the book, the author invites the reader on a journey with Uncle Zekie, a fictitious character who helps to tell the stories of her early life growing up in Jamaica.

Leslie is a historian, storyteller and published author, whose work has earned her national honours from the Government of Jamaica and Jamaica diaspora organisations, including those in Atlanta, Georgia, where she resided for over 20 years. Uncle Zekie Seh will be the featured book in the first instalment of a series of conversations on Jamaican culture as seen in the writings of women writers, moderated by Claudette Lindsay, host of the Caribbean Exchange on WEAA Morgan State radio in Baltimore, Maryland. The series begins in March.