Jamaican Centenarian Sybil Leslie has launched her latest book as a contribution to the effort to retain Jamaica’s cultural heritage, especially among the younger Jamaicans in the diaspora, as well as the wider American audience.
A cultural ambassador of Jamaica, 100 year-old Leslie’s passion about the “spread of Jamaican culture” springs to life from the pages of her new book “Uncle Zekie Seh: Tales of Old Jamaica”.
Few have a better sense of the island’s history and traditions to tell these tales better than this historian, storyteller and published author, who hails from Bethel Town, Westmoreland, Jamaica, where she received her early education.
Sybil Leslie brings back fond memories of a Jamaica many years ago, which she shares through iconic Jamaican portraits captured in such snippets as the classic Jamaican Sunday dinner or Harvest Festival – vignettes of life in the delightful “old Jamaica” in sections she titles: Food and Dining Traditions, Household Chores, Self-Care, Church, Having Fun, Celebrations, and Folklore, ending with the Anansi. The aim behind it all is to bring “these rich traditions back to life.”
The book tells the story of a fictitious character Uncle Zekie as he tells stories about his upbringing in Jamaica, referencing nostalgic aspects of Jamaica like chocolate tea goat milk, ackee and saltfish and flour dumpling
A retired teacher, Sybil Leslie is a historian, storyteller and published author, whose late husband Astley was a labor relations expert and represented Jamaica at the International Labour Organization.
Her work has earned her national honors from the Government of Jamaica and recognition from Jamaica diaspora organizations, including those in Atlanta. Educated at Bethlehem Teachers College and with an M.A. in Educational Administration from the University the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica, she also holds and an M. Phil in History from UWI Cave Hill (Barbados).
She taught at different levels of the Jamaican education system, including Shortwood Teachers College, where she was head of the Social Studies Department, and at UWI Cave Hill. Sybil has published previous works, among them a series of four social studies textbooks for schools in Jamaica.
Uncle Zekie Seh will be the featured book in the first installment of a series of conversations on Jamaican culture as seen in the writings of women writers, moderated by Claudette Lindsay, host of the Caribbean Exchange on WEAA Morgan State radio in Baltimore, Maryland. The series will begin in March.
