Barker, Heather

Heather Barker was born in England and grew up in Barbados. She writes fiction about girls and women in the Caribbean and across the African Diaspora. Her work also ponders subtle and overt impacts of intergenerational trauma from the transatlantic slave trade on women's lives. 

Her short story, African Burial Ground was shortlisted for the 2016 Small Axe Literary Competition while her short story manuscript, "The Plundering", was the top entry in 2017 in the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment. Most recently, Heather made the shortlist of three writers for the 2019 Johnson and Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize. Heather's writing has appeared in "So Many Islands: Stories from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific Oceans" (Peekash Press [US], Telegram [UK]); "Callaloo", the premier journal of literature, art, and culture of the African Diaspora, (John Hopkins University Press); "The Truth About Oranges and Other Works" A Winning Words Anthology; "Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean" (Peekash Press); and "Short Fiction in Theory and Practice" (2016): Short Fiction by Caribbean Women Writers: New Voices, Emerging Perspectives. Heather holds an MSc in Electronic Publishing from City, University of London and a BA in Mass Communications, from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.