Pamela Mordecai

Pamela (Pam) Mordecai was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and educated there at Convent of Mercy Alpha Academy. Alpha was one of the first places in the island to develop indigenous theatre and had a strong creative tradition, especially of performance in the arts. At Alpha she acted in many plays, developing an early love for theatre. Among her roles she played Cobweb in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Roland in the "Chanson de Roland" and "Hecuba in The Trojan Women." She took part often in the All Island Schools Drama and Speech Festivals. In 1960 she went on scholarship to a small Catholic college for women in Newton, MA., one of a few women of colour. Returning to Jamaica, she taught at high school and then teacher training college. She also worked part-time in TV, hosting shows like "Saturday Magazine" and "Bambu-Tambu" for the Jamaica Information Service, where she met husband (and fellow writer), Martin Mordecai, whom she married in 1966. In 1974 she went to work at the University of the West Indies as Publications Officer in the Faculty of Education and Publications Editor of the Caribbean Journal of Education. During her 16 years at UWI, she began a writing partnership with the late Grace Walker Gordon that lasted over twenty-five years. She also began a PhD (part-time) on the poetry of Derek Walcott and Kamau Brathwaite that would take her 14 years to finish, every minute of which she enjoyed. Her first publication in 1987 was a book of children's poems, "Storypoems: A first Collection," extension reading for Ginn & Company's highly successful Reading 360 Series. It was also published in the US by The Wright Group. In addition to stories and poetry for children and adults, she has written a play, "El Numero Uno," which had its world premiere in Toronto in 2010 and its Caribbean premiere at the EdnaManley School for the Performing Arts in 2016. Pamela and her family emigrated to Canada in 1994. They lived in Toronto for 17 years, moving to Kitchener, Ontario in 2011. In 2019, they relocated to Toronto so Martin could be near his doctors. He died in 2021. Pamela still lives in Toronto, though she spends increasing time in Jamaica. She is represented by Transatlantic Literary Agency.