This book is not about Guyana, of course. The best way that I can describe This One Sky Day is that it has the same energy as the phrase “Guyana’s nah a real place” but taken to its most literal and outrageous extremes. From the gods: a thing so inexpressibly your own.” (p. “Everyone in Popisho was born with a little something-something, boy, a little something extra. The two cover versions of the novel: Popisho on the left and This One Sky Day on the right It’s only July, but I can confidently declare This One Sky Day/Popisho as one of my favourite reads for 2021. I did not know what it would be, but I was eager to find out. The premise was intriguing the readings promised me magic, humour, chaos, scandal, and the discussions made me believe that there was some deeper commentary behind the colourful prose and Ross’s quick wit. Before the hour was up, I was already sold on the book. One of these writers is Leone Ross, whose most recent novel, This One Sky Day (aka Popisho), was featured in the Imaginary Homelands panel. Inspired by the author’s Jamaican homeland, inflected with rhythms and textures of an amalgam of languages, it is a dazzling, major work of fiction.I attended my second Bocas Lit Fest back in April and was once again introduced to many Caribbean writers whose work I am excited about.

Leone Ross’s Popisho is a masterful delight: a playful love story, a portrait of community, a boldly sensual meditation on desire and addiction, and a critique of the legacies of corruption and colonialism. Before it comes, before the end of the day, this wildly imaginative narrative will take us across the islands, through their history, and into the lives of unforgettable characters. Meanwhile, graffiti messages from an unknown source are asking hard questions. The governor’s daughter, Sonteine, still hasn’t come into her cors, but her corrupt father is demanding the macaenus make a feast for her wedding. Anise, his long-lost love, is on a march toward reckoning with her healing powers. Xavier Redchoose is the macaenus of his generation, anointed by the gods to make each resident one perfect meal when the time is right.

A place of stunning beauty and incorrigible mischief, destiny and mystery, it is also a place in need of change. Somewhere far away-or maybe right nearby-lies an archipelago called Popisho. From the gods: a thing so inexpressibly your own.

voice sings out loud and pure.” -Eowyn Ivey, The New York Times Book ReviewĮveryone in Popisho was born with a little something-something, boy, a little something extra. Ross’s lyrical, rhythmic writing is something to be savored.

Popisho a novel