A is for Ackee

It all started when…

“I is for Irie” traces a Jamaican brother and sister’s day from sunrise to dusk. From the sights and sounds of their early morning walk through the neighbourhood to the veranda-framed sunset; the upbeat narrative offers insightful vignettes of Jamaican life set to the rhythm of the alphabet.

Through the quintessentially Jamaican sight of a throng of immaculately presented children in pristine uniforms en route to school, we are offered an underpublicized vision of pastoral Jamaica. Likewise, the book seeks to begin unravelling the gaze. By implicitly questioning whether ‘a’ must denote ‘apple’ or ‘s’, ‘snow’ when ‘ackees’ and ‘steel bands’ are no less vibrant or significant, assumed Anglo-centric ways of looking at the world are challenged and the need to reconfigure and decolonise this approach is illuminated.

“I is for Irie” also centralises the under-acknowledged Jamaican language, teaching children, by celebrating words we can unlock the eclectic lives, histories and heritages of cultures.