Jamaica is known for producing many talented individuals – the island is a pool of artistic flair.

Jamaica has produced extraordinary musicians, Olympians, actors, writers and the list continues.  

Despite its size, the island remains a cultural force within the Caribbean, a melting pot that has a little of everything and this is something that several Jamaican writers have indicated over time.

The island has produced some of the most expressive and known writers around the world.

The many writers, both novelists and poets, who have emerged from Jamaica over the years maps out the history of the island through their work.

With the Commonwealth Short Story Prize now open, here are 10 Jamaican writers who you might want to draw some inspiration from.

Claude McKay was born Festus Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville Clarendon, Jamaica in 1889.

He was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a prominent literary movement of the 1920s.

His work ranged from vernacular verse, celebrating peasant life in Jamaica, to poems that protested racial and economic inequities.

McKay discovered his writing abilities at an early age, writing his first poem at age 10.

Louise Bennett-Coverley, born Louise Bennett on September 7, 1919, was a Jamaican poet, writer and folklorist.

Miss Lou, as she is popularly known, is the author of several books and poems.

In her poems she was able to capture all the naturalness of the expression of Jamaicans’ joys and sorrows, their ready, emotional and even wicked wit, their religion and their philosophy of life.

Miss Lou remains a cultural icon.

Mervyn Eustace Morris was born in Kingston on February 21, 1937.  

He is considered one of the most resourceful and technically brilliant of Caribbean poets.

He has published six volumes of poetry, and has edited the works of many other Caribbean writers.

He is a poet and professor emeritus at the University of the West Indies, Mona. He was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit and appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica.

Roger Mais was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1905.  Mais published more than 100 short stories – his topics most frequently were the social injustice and inequality suffered by black, poor Jamaicans.

In 1951, he had won 10 first prizes in West Indian literary competitions. His integral role in the development of political and cultural nationalism is evidenced in his being awarded the high honour of the Order of Jamaica in 1978.

Lorna Goodison is a popular Jamaican poet, essayist and memoirist. She was born in Jamaica in 1947.

An influential poet and academic, Lorna Goodison has been cited for her literary inscription of Jamaican culture.

Her work explored themes of exile, homelessness and nostalgia, winning awards in Jamaica, Britain, and the United States.

Goodison was appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica in 2017, succeeding Mervyn Morris. In 2019, she was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. 

Jean D’Costa was born January 13, 1937. She is a Jamaican children’s novelist, linguist and professor emeritus.

Her novels have been praised for their use of both the Jamaican patois and Standard English.

Her two most popular novels, Sprat Morrison (1972) and Escape to Last Man Peak (1976), have been used in schools throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean region.

Andrew Salkey was born in Colon, Panama in 1928 of Jamaican parents. He was brought up in Jamaica by his mother and grandparents.

He was an editor, broadcaster, and published poetry, stories and novels.

He is considered to be a novelist and poet who was part of the generation of Caribbean writers who came to prominence in the 1950s.

Salkey was a leading figure within Caribbean literature.

Lindsay Barrett is a Jamaican-Nigerian novelist. He was born Carlton Lindsay Barrett in Lucea, Hanover on September 15, 1941.

Barret was a leading member of the cluster of radical literary figures who emerged in the 1960s and 70s. He was an experimental writer who was committed to progressive causes. 

He published his first novel, Song for Mumu, in 1967.

Barrett moved to Nigeria following the publication of this novel and developed his literary career in West Africa.

Joan Andrea Hutchinson is celebrated internationally for her poems and stories, and as an actor, singer, motivational speaker, and teacher. She has been writing poems and stories in the Jamaican patois dialect for more than 10 years.

Marlon James is a Jamaican writer who was bor on November 24, 1970 and is the author of five novels.

James is a multi-literary book award winner, one of his most notable beiing the 2015 Man Booker Prize.

He is currently an associate professor at Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is open to all citizens of the 56 Commonwealth countries who are 18 or older.

Submissions must be unpublished pieces of original fiction between 2,000-5,000 words.

The winner will receive £5,000 and their story will be published online.