Makeda Silvera

Makeda Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1959 and immigrated to Toronto at the age of 12. She received a Masters degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University and is currently working on her PhD in Women’s Studies. Silvera became actively involved in Black, feminist, lesbian and gay organizations and politics early on in life. She was a member of the editorial collective of Fireweed, a feminist journal. She was also a member of Zami, a Toronto based community organization for Black and Caribbean gays and lesbians, started in 1984.

Silvera and her partner, Stephanie Martin started Sister Vision: Black Women and Women of Colour Press in 1985. Their historic venture resulted in enabling many Black writers and writers of colour to take advantage of this unique opportunity to get their work published.

Silvera herself has tackled several complex and difficult issues: race, class, gender and sexuality. She has written about Black and Caribbean feminist themes that also concern lesbians of colour and issues related to women's work. She has edited collections such as Piece of my Heart: a Lesbian of Colour Anthology (1991), Ma-Ka Diasporic Juks: Contemporary Writing by Queers of African Descent(1997) and The Other Woman: Women of Colour in Contemporary Canadian literature (1994). She is the author of two critically acclaimed collections of short stories, Her Head A Village and Other Stories and Other Stories and Remembering G, and other Stories. Her collected works have also appeared in numerous anthologies. Her most recent novel, The Heart Does Not Bend (2002) is a story of family, deception, betrayal and love, set in both Jamaica and Toronto, Canada.

Bibliography
The Heart Does Not Bend (Vintage Books, 2002)
Sapodilla: the Sister Vision Book of Lesbian Poetry (Sister Vision Press, 1999)
Ma-Ka Diasporic Juks: Contemporary Writing by Queers of African Descent (Sister Vision Press, 1997)
Pearls of Passion: a Treasury of Lesbian Erotica (Sister Vision Press, 1995)
Her Head a Village and Other Stories (Press Gang Publishers, 1994)
The Other Woman: Women of Colour in Contemporary Canadian literature (Sister Vision, 1994)
Piece of My Heart: a Lesbian of Colour Anthology (Sister Vision, 1991)
Remembering G and Other Stories (Sister Vision Press, 1991)
Silenced: Talks with Working Class Caribbean Women About Their Lives and Struggles as Domestic Workers in Canada (Reprinted by Sister Vision Press, 1989)
Fireworks: the best of Fireweed (The Women's Press, 1986)