Horane Smith

Horane Smith, an award-winning author and journalist, was born in the picturesque village of Yardley Chase, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, the site of the legendary tourist attraction and subject of his internationally acclaimed novel Lover's Leap: Based on the Jamaican Legend.

He's the author of 14 novels including the 2006 USA Booknews Bestbook Award (for historical fiction)Finalist, Dawn at Lover's Leap, the sequel to Lover's Leap:Based on the Jamaican Legend.

His first novel Lover’s Leap: Based on the Jamaican Legend, was published to international acclaim in the U.K. in 1999, and to date is his best-selling novel. The novel was the subject of a major study that focuses on the enslaved African in Caribbean literature as it affects master-slave relationships.

The study “Fight, Love, and Flee, Cognitive Dissonance in Horane Smith’s Lover’s Leap,” was published in Orbis Litterarum, an international journal devoted to the study of European and American literature. The study’s author said “ Horane Smith “is one of the writers who breathe life into the past in their texts. Smith attempts to raise the Caribbean black men’s awareness and understanding of the institutions of slavery and the colonial forces that have conspired to disturb their psyches and de- Africanize them, making them lose touch with their harmonious selves and their roots,” the Professor Abdelmotagally noted.

Morant Bay: Based on the Jamaican Rebellion completes the trilogy of the Lover’s Leap saga. It is set in Morant Bay during the time of the rebellion in 1865.

He has also written Port Royal, a story about the pirates who made the infamous city their home; Underground to Freedom, a story of the Underground Railroad when thousands of American slaves sought freedom in Canada. The Lynching Stream is another of his novels that focuses on American history, recapturing a time when thousands of innocent people, mostly African-Americans, were lynched in the United States.

Reggae Silver is his first contemporary work of fiction. Dubbed “the greatest reggae story ever told,” the novel tells how one ambitious Jamaican singer vowed to become the biggest reggae superstar since Bob Marley, despite his imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.

His seventh novel – Seven Days in Jamaica relates the story of one young American’s bold move to escape the grip of over-possessive parents and begin life on his own starting with a seven day visit to the land of his dream – Jamaica.

Marooned in Nova Scotia – A Story of the Jamaican Maroons in Canada, tells the story of a valiant Maroon warrior, who refused to call Nova Scotia, British North America, home and sets out on a mission to take his people back to Jamaica.

By the Rivers of Babylon is a narrative of one famous singer’s relentless efforts to rescue his newly-found son from the Jamaican posses in New York City.

When A Marriage Goes Blue tackles marriage issues; Shortcut to Hell looks at the challenges of growing up young in today’s society; and The Will to Live is a story about the family dynamics when squabbles emerge over inheritance.

Horane Smith has been described as “prolific…growing from strength to strength…no ordinary novelist…and one of our best emerging writers.”

He’s the first recipient of the BURLA Award for his outstanding contribution to African-Canadian and Caribbean Literature. He has also been recognized by the Jamaican Diaspora Foundation Canada for his outstanding contribution to Jamaican literature.

For more information about his books, visit www.horanesmith.com