Yvonne Bailey-Smith Calabash Festival

Yvonne Bailey-Smith

Yvonne Bailey-Smith was born in Jamaica and immigrated to the UK in 1969 when she was a teenager. She trained and worked first as a social worker before becoming a psychotherapist. She is also a Water Aid Supporter and passionate about providing clean water and sanitation in developing countries.

Her debut novel, The Day I Fell Off My Island, is a coming-of-age story of Erna Mullings, a young Jamaican girl who grows up with her grandparents in the country before eventually migrating to England to join her mother and siblings.

PHOTO: Suki Dhanda

Twitter: @YvonneBaileySm3
Instagram: smiyvo