Beyond the canebrakes

"Beyond the Canebrakes: Caribbean Women Writers in Canada is a text of fifteen essays and two interviews that examine the work of West Indian women writers living in Canada. The essays examine the work of literary artists--Claire Harris, Olive Senior, Lillian Allen, Afua Cooper, Dionne Brand, M. Nourbese Philip, Nalo Hopkinson, Pamela Mordecai, and Makeda Silvera-- as an integral not marginal element of the Canadian and world literature canons. The authors of these essays and interviews dissect issues of history, gender, power, identity, and levels of discourse in moving scholars, researchers, and students into arenas of more vigorous study and critique of the West Indian woman writer in Canada. These essays further examine how these women writers' literary works reflect their foundations as Caribbean-born while illustrating their movement "beyond the canebrakes"--Caribbean homeland-- in a reflection and synthesis of their birth-home/heritage with diasporic-home."--Publisher's website.