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Shame On Me

(Paperback)


Publishing Details

Full Title:

Shame On Me

Contributors:

By (Author) Tessa McWatt

ISBN:

9781925849011

Publisher:

Scribe Publications

Imprint:

Scribe Publications

Publication Date:

6th August 2019

Country:

Australia

Classifications

Readership:

General

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Main Subject:
Other Subjects:

Ethnic groups and multicultural studies
Psychology: the self, ego, identity, personality
Family history, tracing ancestors

Dewey:

305.8092

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Paperback

Number of Pages:

320

Dimensions:

Width 149mm, Height 208mm, Spine 20mm

Weight:

313g

Description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 OCM BOCAS PRIZE FOR CARIBBEAN LITERATURE What are you SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 OCM BOCAS PRIZE FOR CARIBBEAN LITERATURE 'What are you' Tessa McWatt knows first-hand that the answer to this question, often asked of people of colour by white people, is always more complicated than it seems. Is the answer English, Scottish, British, Caribbean, Portuguese, Indian, Amerindian, French, African, Chinese, Canadian Like most families, hers is steeped in myth and the anecdotes of grandparents and parents who view their histories through the lens of desire, aspiration, loss, and shame. In Shame On Me she unspools all the interwoven strands of her inheritance, and knits them back together using additional fibres from literature and history to strengthen the weave of her refabricated tale. She dismantles her own body and examines it piece by piece to build a devastating and incisively subtle analysis of the race debate as it now stands, in this stunningly written exploration of who and what we truly are. 'Beautifully written, profoundly moving, and deeply reflective.' -2020 OCM Bocas Prize jury citation 'Beautifully written and courageously told.' -2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction jury citation 'This remarkable meditation on beautiful, human bodies formed by the violence of slavery and by colonial shame resists categorisation, even as it shows up the ways in which categories of race and identity are no more than empty methods of social control. Reading this book I felt a profound sense of relief- that someone as wise as Tessa McWatt had the compassion and courage to write it. Though she doesn't spare us, her ancestors or herself, as she travels from British Guiana to China, India and Scotland, we must go with her- and realise the power of recovering female lineage, and realise that there is no centre, except the one we ourselves can make with all the various stories we contain. It is a deeply moving, urgent and important book.' - Preti Taneja, author of We That Are Young

Author Bio

Tessa McWatt is the author of seven novels, two books for young people, and one nonfiction book. Born in Guyana, with Scottish, African, Indian, Chinese, French, Portuguese, and Arawak ancestry, she grew up in Canada and now lives in London. Her work has been nominated for the Governor General's Award, the Toronto Book Awards, The Hilary Weston Prize, and the OCM Bocas Prize. She is a winner of the Eccles British Library Award 2018. McWatt is Professor of Creative Writing at UEA.

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