Kerry Young is a novelist with three books published by Bloomsbury: Pao (2011), Gloria (2013) and Show Me A Mountain (2016). All three books are set in Jamaica against a backdrop of social change and political upheaval, telling three people’s interlinked stories of struggle and redemption, love and ambition, race, class, gender and colour in a country at a crossroads.
Pao was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize and the East Midlands Book Award. Gloria was shortlisted for the East Midlands Book Award, longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Kerry’s background is in youth work where she published widely and undertook research, training and consultancy for central government departments, local authorities, voluntary organisations, charities, universities and public bodies. She has masters’ degrees in organisation development and creative writing, and a PhD in youth work. Kerry is a qualified coach, accredited with the International Coach Federation from 2008 to 2011 when she withdrew from consultancy work to concentrate on being a writer.
Kerry is a manuscript assessment reader for the Literary Consultancy and an Arvon Foundation tutor.
