Martin Mordecai

Much of my professional life has been concerned with media: print, electronic, books. The first ten years, 1961–71, were spent in print and electronic journalism and audio-visual production, almost all aspects of. For the next thirteen years, 1971–84, I was a diplomat, representing my country of birth, Jamaica, functioning in the political and public information fields at base and in several countries. Thereafter, for eight years, 1985-1993, I was a senior advisor and administrator in the areas of broadcasting regulation, intellectual property and culture. From 1993, mostly in Canada, I’ve been a bookseller, photographer, writer and co-owner of a small press that publishes Caribbean and Canadian poetry. I came to sustained writing in Canada, and now make most of my income, such as it is, from that source.

He has just completed a historical novel set in Jamaica in 1831. Free began life in 1974, though has only been paid serious attention in the last seven or eight years. Mordecai, a slow writer, is now girding his loins for the ordeal(s) of revision and submission to publishers.

Education

• 1971: University of the West Indies, Jamaica, BA History
• 1981-82: Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA

Publications List

• Blue Mountain Trouble, Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. (U.S.) simultaneously published by Scholastic Canada, April 2009. 341 pp. Selected by the US Board of Books for Young People (USBBY) as an Outstanding International Book for 2010; by the Ontario Library Association as one of its “best bets” for 2009; and short-listed for children’s book of the year by the Canadian Library Association.
• Culture and Customs of Jamaica (with Pamela C. Mordecai). Greenwood Press, USA, 2001, 217 pp.

Stories

• “Hunger”. TOK 6, Toronto, Spring 2011.
• “Homeless by Design”, published online in the Maple Tree Literary Supplement, Issue 2, 2008.
• “Lignum Vitae”, Jamaica Journal Vol. 33 #1–2 (Fall 2010)
• “The Pool of Memory”, Jamaica Journal, Vol. 4 No. 1, 1970.

Selected Articles

• “Speaking Back to Home.” Caribbean Beat No. 80, July/August 2006. Profile of Canadian-Jamaican author Olive Senior.
• “Water, water everywhere . . .” Caribbean Beat, May/June 2004
• “The Junction Road—the future of the book.” Jamaica Journal 28:1. 2001.
• “State Policy, Global Trends and Regulation in Broadcasting: The case of Jamaica.” In Globalization, Communication and Caribbean Identity, edited by Hopeton Dunn. Kingston, Ian Randle Publishers, 1994.

Personal

• Married to Pamela Mordecai, 3 children, one grandchild.

Martin is a Long Form 2013 and 2015 mentor.