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Sharon Gordon’s book Sheribaby, which is inspired by her youth in East Kingston, is up for a Grammy Award consideration in the Best Audiobook, Storytelling and Recording category.
The provisional lists for the 2026 Grammys were announced on October 3 by the Recording Academy. That organisation will announce the official nominees on November 7, while the 68th Grammy Award takes place on February 1 in Los Angeles.
Sheribaby is the New York-based Gordon’s first book. Written in patois, it reflects on the title character’s life from 1969 to 1975 in Rollington Town, then a middle-class community in Kingston.
In an interview with the Observer Online, she spoke about being considered for the Grammy.
“It says so much about the appeal of the book and how people are relating to the story and on so many levels. The reviews reflect that Sheribaby resonates on a universal level. Check the more than 40 reviews posted on Amazon since being released seven months ago in March,” she said. “Many Jamaicans in the Diaspora have said the story of Sheribaby is like a time capsule taking them back in time and many share how they identify personally with themes in the book.”
Gordon wrote Sheribaby in the Jamaican dialect as homage to Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett-Coverley, the legendary folklorist/actress who championed the use of patois during the years when Jamaica was under British rule.
There was some opposition to Gordon going the patois route with Sheribaby.
“People chided me not to write in patois. That it would be frowned upon, that I am a better writer than that… still don’t know what that means. But it was my desire to pay homage to my mentor Miss Lou, whose life’s work was to put respect on our Jamaican dialect, folklore and African heritage,” she disclosed. “She made me proud to speak patois passionately, as a child even though I was forbidden by my parents and schoolteachers to speak that way. Truth be told, writing in Jamaican dialect was the only way to tell this story and be authentic and that is what makes Sheribaby the modern-day classic it has become.”
Gordon, who has lived in the United States for over 45 years, had signings for Sheribaby in New York, Florida, New Jersey, Toronto, Canada and Maryland.
