Zalika Reid-Benta is a Canadian writer.[1] Her debut novel River Mumma has been described as a "a rich and sometimes even dizzying brew that marks the emergence of a powerful new voice" in a starred review from Publishers Weekly.[2] It was the October 2023 pick for the CityLine book club[3] and has been listed as one of the best fiction books of 2023 on numerous platforms, including CBC Books.[4] The novel is a "magical realist story" inspired by Jamaican folklore. The main character, Alicia Gale, is a young Black woman having a quarter-life crisis, while adventuring through the streets of Toronto, Ontario.[5]
Zalika Reid-Benta | |
---|---|
Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Occupation | Author |
Alma mater | University of Toronto, Columbia University |
Notable works | Frying Plantain, River Mumma |
Reid-Benta's debut short story collection Frying Plantain was nominated and won numerous awards.[6] The book is a collection of linked short stories centering on the coming of age of Kara Davis, a young Jamaican-Canadian girl growing up in the Eglinton West neighbourhood of Toronto.[7]
Reid-Benta grew up in Toronto.[8] As a child she enjoyed books written by Judy Blume and movies like Now and Then and My Girl, but she didn't see herself represented in these stories.[8] Even as a child she knew she wanted to write.[9]
She graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours BA in English and Cinema studies and with a minor in Caribbean Studies.[5] She then received an MFA from Columbia University with a concentration in fiction.[5] In 2017 she attended the Writers Studio at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity and was a 2019 John Gardener Fiction Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference.[5] Prior to the publication of her book, she was mentored by writers Victor LaValle, George Elliott Clarke, Janice Galloway and Olive Senior.[7]
In a Scotiabank Giller Prize Spotlight interview, Reid-Benta describes Toni Morrison as being one of her literary heroes and mentions that “reading what she does with language, definitely motivates me to write the best way I can.”[8]
When interviewed by Vannessa Barnier, Reid-Benta also describes that Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, and Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche were inspirations.[10]
In an interview for River Mumma with the Library Journal, Reid-Benta mentions Nalo Hopkinson, Octavia Butler and Cherie Dimaline as inspirations and some of her favourite writers in science fiction and fantasy.[11]
Reid-Benta has received several major awards for her work, including:
Frying Plantain was shortlisted for the 2020 Toronto Book Awards.[15] and for the 2020 Trillium Awards.[16] It was a longlisted nominee for the 2019 Scotia Bank Giller Prize.[8] and it was nominated for the 2021 White Pine Award.[17]