Susan Proudleigh: Mint Editions

H. G. de Lisser (1878-1944) was a Jamaican journalist and novelist. Born in Falmouth, Jamaica, de Lisser was raised in a family of Afro-Jewish descent. At seventeen, he began working as a proofreader at the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, where his father was editor. By 1903, he earned the position of assistant editor and began writing several daily articles while working on the essays that would fill his first collection, In Cuba and Jamaica (1909). His debut novel Jane¿s Career: A Story of Jamaica (1913) has been recognized as the first West Indian novel to have a black character as its protagonist. In addition to his writing¿he published several essay collections, novels, and plays throughout his career¿de Lisser was an advocate for the Jamaican sugar Industry and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.