Alecia McKenzie is a Jamaican writer currently based in France. Her first collection of short stories, Satellite City, and her novel, Sweetheart, have both won Commonwealth Writers prizes. Sweetheart has been translated into French and was awarded the Prix Carbet des Lyceens in 2017. Her other books include Stories from Yard, Doctor's Orders, and When the Rain Stopped in Natland. McKenzie's work has appeared in a range of literary magazines and in anthologies such as Stories from Blue Latitudes, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories, Bridges, Global Tales, Girls Night In, and To Exist Is to Resist. She edited a collection of contemporary Jamaican short stories and coedited Where We Started: Stories of Living Between Worlds, an anthology of writing from different countries.
A Million Aunties is an elegantly written and emotionally engrossing work of fiction -- Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other Alecia McKenzie's tender new novel is an emotionally resonant ode to adopted families and community resilience * New York Times * This big-hearted narrative of love, loss and family is handled with grace and beauty -- Publishers Weekly Have you ever not wanted a book to end? Were disappointed that the characters are gone from your life? A Million Aunties by Alecia McKenzie is one such novel that makes you yearn for more * New York Journal of Books * A wide-ranging novel told in several voices that moves between New York, rural Jamaica, and Paris. Painting is at the heart of the book but so is family, love, heartbreak, and loss. The story pulls you in and holds you right till the end. It's strongly written with a delicate touch * New West Indian Guide * The beauty and brilliance of Blackness in the diaspora take centerstage in Alecia McKenzie's A Million Aunties, showcasing the intricate textures of identity, place, and connection to survive loss * Colors of Influence * A beautiful book for anyone who knows there is more to family than blood relations * Book Culture * Under her deceptively revealing title, Alecia McKenzie recreates Jamaica's enduring traditions in fresh and illuminating ways that make this one of the most avant garde fictions I have read in a long time -- Curdella Forbes, Author of A Tall History of Sugar This is a wonderful story about the families we're given and those we make for ourselves. I found A Million Aunties a soothing, life-affirming read. -- Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City