Novelist
Jacqueline Roy was born in London. Her mother was British and her father was Namba Roy, a Jamaican painter, sculptor and novelist, who, unable to gain the recognition his art deserved in his lifetime, worked in a factory. He died when Jacqueline was seven and she was encouraged to write by grieving friends and relatives who hoped she would take up his mantle. She edited Namba Roy’s novel, No Black Sparrows, which was published posthumously in 1989. Disillusioned and alienated by an all-white curriculum at school, she didn’t do a degree until she was in her thirties. She rediscovered a love of learning at the North London Polytechnic and went on to lecture in creative writing and literature by writers of colour at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written six books for children and two novels for adults. Her first adult novel, The Fat Lady Sings, was first published in 2000 and was republished by Penguin in 2021 as part of the Black Britain: Writing Back series. Her second novel for adults, The Gosling Girl was published by Simon and Schuster in 2022.