Joy Fraser
Joy Fraser was born in Grenada and joined her parents in North West London at the age of ten. She trained as a teacher after completing a language degree. She went on to teach French and comparative literature in the UK and English in France and Martinique where she spent several years as a student, teacher and performing artist. In Martinique, she developed a keen interest in the revival of African-Martinican culture, folklore and the creole language.
Her short story A Little Enchantment is a contemporary fable that draws on Caribbean folktales and storytelling. It deals with themes of love and constancy as well as conflict arising from young people challenging traditions in order to carve out new ways of being in the world. Enchantment also explores the rich fauna and flora of that region and the way they inform beliefs and practices of healing and well-being.
Joy’s love of the arts and life-long habit of reading nurtured her ability to write. Attending Creative Writing courses at the City Lit also encouraged her complete what was then the first draft of The Susu Keeper, her debut novel, rooted in the Caribbean community that she grew up among. Joy herself comes from a family of susu keepers, mostly women who, when they arrived in Britain continued the ancient African tradition of saving within communities. This custom was particularly useful in the early years when access to English banking structures was denied them.
Authors such as Gloria Naylor, Olive Senior, Toni Morrison and Toni Cade Bambara influenced, inspired and showed Joy the importance of telling everyday stories about ordinary people who wear their nobility lightly.
The Susu Keeper was longlisted in the 2023 Women’s Prize Trust Discoveries competition.
When Joy is not writing, watching Maigret or bringing up her ten-year-old granddaughter, she campaigns for the Kinship charity.