BIO
Soraya Palmer was born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NYC with roots in Trinidad and Jamaica. She works in Youth Organizing and holds a BA in Africana Studies an M.F.A. in Fiction. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, Callaloo, Black Warrior Review, and Calyx. This is her first novel.
REVIEWS
Ms., A Most Anticipated Title of the Year
One of Electric Literature‘s Books by Women of Color to Read This Year
The Week, A Most Anticipated Book of 2023
Goodreads, A Buzziest Debut Novel of the Year
“What happens to stories that are born of another land? When they migrate multiple times and across multiple generations? Soraya Palmer’s ambitious and passionate debut, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, is a thoughtful exploration of these questions . . . This is a book written with the gods of storytelling in mind; it highlights what stories can do—that it’s not just the stories that evolve with each telling, but we ourselves who are rearranged too.” -- Ingrid Rojas Contreras, The New York Times Book Review
“One of the Best New Books to Read in 2023.” -- Today
“The long and winding name of this assertive debut matches the magnitude of the stories within, which draw on folklore to capture the dynamic between two sisters, Zora and Sasha Porter. Their mother’s illness and their father’s violence has fractured their relationship, but their bond is reforged as an old family secret—and a surrounding cache of remarkable tales—roars to the surface.” -- Elle, A Most Anticipated Title of the Year
One of Electric Literature‘s Books by Women of Color to Read This Year
The Week, A Most Anticipated Book of 2023
Goodreads, A Buzziest Debut Novel of the Year
“What happens to stories that are born of another land? When they migrate multiple times and across multiple generations? Soraya Palmer’s ambitious and passionate debut, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, is a thoughtful exploration of these questions . . . This is a book written with the gods of storytelling in mind; it highlights what stories can do—that it’s not just the stories that evolve with each telling, but we ourselves who are rearranged too.” -- Ingrid Rojas Contreras, The New York Times Book Review
“One of the Best New Books to Read in 2023.” -- Today
“The long and winding name of this assertive debut matches the magnitude of the stories within, which draw on folklore to capture the dynamic between two sisters, Zora and Sasha Porter. Their mother’s illness and their father’s violence has fractured their relationship, but their bond is reforged as an old family secret—and a surrounding cache of remarkable tales—roars to the surface.” -- Elle, A Most Anticipated Title of the Year
[H] Catapult / March 28, 2023
1.07" H x 9.26" L x 6.37" W (1.22 lbs) 288 pages