Character Development

Shakirah Bourne is a Barbadian author and filmmaker. Her adult literary fiction has won several awards, including the Governor General Award for Excellence in Literary Fiction, the Prime Minister's Award and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She was a finalist for the BURT/CODE Award for Caribbean YA Literature in 2018 and the Caribbean edition of her middle grade novel, MY FISHY STEPMOM, was published by Blue Banyan Books in 2019. The North American edition, JOSEPHINE AGAINST THE SEA, was published by Scholastic and received starred reviews in Kirkus and Booklist, and was a School Library Journal Best Book of 2021.