Naomi Jackson


A. Naomi Jackson is an Caribbean-American author most known for her novel The Star Side of Bird Hill, which was nominated for the NAACP Image Award, was a finalist for the 2016 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. The novel was also longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, along with the John Leonard Award from National Book Critics as well as the International Dublin Literary Award. She is a Fulbright recipient, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Her first novel, The Star Side of Bird Hill, was received positively by critics. It boasts recommendations by Entertainment Weekly, Oprah.com, The Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Travel & Leisure, Bustle, Publishers Weekly, Gawker, Minnesota Public Radio, and For Harriet.

Personal Life and Education

A. Naomi Jackson was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York to West India parents. Jackson describes herself as 'pan-Caribbean mongrel' as her father is from Antigua, her mother is from Barbados and her stepmother is from Jamaica. In Harper's Magazine, Jackson goes on to openly talk about her struggles with mental health and her journey to recovery.
Jackson is an graduate from Williams College and has earned her MA degree in Creative writing through the University of Cape Town on a Fulbright scholarship. After several years of poetry and fiction workshops at Cave Canem and Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, Jackson, just shy of turning 30, gets accepted into Iowa Writers workshop to obtain her MFA.

''The Star Side of Bird Hill'' (2015)

Jackson's debut novel The Star Side of Bird Hill published by Penguin Books in June 2015, follows two sisters, Dionne and Phaedra through their summer in Bible Camp in Barbados with their grandmother when their mother was unable to care for the two as she struggles with her own mental health. Jackson goes on to describe one theme in the novel was based around a family of women, as it explores motherhood, girlhood, sexuality and generational wounds. Jackson explains that the reason for the theme was draw upon based on her personal life, having survived, as she describes, 'Vacation Bible School in Antigua and a former acolyte in the Epsicopal Church in Brooklyn'. Jackson takes inspiration in writing her novels through reading Jamaica Kincaid's novels, especially ''Annie John.''

Reception

Naomi Jackson's debut novel, The Star Side of Bird Hill, was met immediately with high praise. Highly recommended by Gawker and The Huffington Post, NPR's book review "A Lyrical Coming Of Age Tale In 'Bird Hill was more critical. In this piece critic Michael Schaub call " excellent for a debut novel, though it's not entirely without its flaws." He criticizes it for its treatment of supporting characters and a plot which, he writes, "seems to get away from her towards the end." However, these flaws, "are hardly mortal sins, especially for a first-time novelist." Throughout his review, he praises the writing of the character, Phaedra, which he says makes the book worth reading.
Isabella Biedenharn with Entertainment Weekly gave it a more positive review, calling it, "so poetic in its descriptions and so alive with lovable, frustrating, painfully real characters, that your emotional response to it becomes almost physical." She goes on to praise Naomi Jackson's treatment of Dionne, Hyacinthe, and Errol, as well as Phaedra.

Honors and awards

Publications

Books

Stories and articles

  • "Her Kind", Harper's
  • "One in a Million: An Elegy for Aaliyah", Harper's Bazaar
  • Review of Zakiya Dalila Harris's The Other Black Girl, Washington Post
  • Review of Monica West's Revival Season, Washington Post
  • "I Wanted to Celebrate My 40th Birthday at Crop Over. COVID-19 Had Other Plans", Harper's Bazaar
  • Review of Ladee Hubbard's The Rib King, Washington Post
  • Review of Robert Jones, Jr.’s The Prophets, Washington Post
  • “The Confounding Insistence on Innocence: A Conversation with Danielle Evans", Poets & Writers
  • "A Litany for Survival: Giving Birth as A Black Woman in America", Harper's
  • Review of Ingrid Persaud’s Love After Love, Washington Post
  • Review of Zora Neale Hurston's Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick, Washington Post
  • “Joy Comes in the Morning: Finding Sanctuary in the Wake of Pulse", Virginia Quarterly Review
  • "Minding the Gap: On Sex & Love & the In-Between", Tin House
  • "Making the Road by Walking: From Brooklyn to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop", Poets & Writers
  • “Falling in Love with Bahia & Brazil: On Blackness, Saudade & Surrender", Words Without Borders
  • "To Be Young, Gifted and Black: A Travelogue of Black Women Artists in France and America", Apogee
  • Digital essays for BuzzFeed, Elle.com, espnW, LitHub, and New York Magazines The Cut
  • "Bumpers", Kweli
  • "Fever", ''Caribbean Beat''