Jacqueline Crooks

Author

Jacqueline Crooks is a British-Jamaican author whose debut novel announced a startling new voice in literary fiction. Born in Jamaica and raised in Southall, west London, she has published short stories in acclaimed literary journals and her collection The Ice Migration was longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. She was... named one of the Observer's ten best new novelists for 2023. Her debut novel Fire Rush, set in the late 1970s and 1980s, follows second-generation Jamaican-British Yamaye as she immerses herself in the dub reggae scene of the era — a world of sound systems, bass culture, and community that provided a space of resistance and belonging for the Caribbean diaspora. The novel was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 and praised for its incantatory, rhythmic prose that captures the physical experience of the music. Her audiobooks and books offer listeners and readers a visceral, beautifully written immersion in a submerged chapter of Black British cultural history — fiction that pulses with the bass and fury of a world brought powerfully back to life. Read more Show less