Merle Collins is a distinguished author whose works draw deeply from the rich Caribbean literary tradition. Through her poetry and short stories, she delves into the complexities of identity and history, with her writing reflecting the intricate connections between cultures and the past. Her style is marked by incisive analysis and a lyrical quality that draws readers into narratives where personal experience intertwines with broader social and political themes. Collins primarily explores how the past resonates in the present, shaping collective memory and individual understanding.
Set on the Caribbean island of Paz (not a million miles from Grenada), this is a book that creates and occupies a space between epic poetry and the novel in the way its sequence of interludes bring into focus the lives of family and community through time - and in the confinements of small island space.
Through a mix of fictive narrative, letters and poetry, Ocean Stirrings tells the story of the mother of Malcolm X. From the shores of Grenada to Canada and the USA, this is a powerful and poignant tribute to a remarkable woman and an important chapter in the history of the civil rights movement.