Malahat Review volunteer Catherine Mwitta talks with the summer issue #211 contributor about building a narrative off of a short moment in time, incorporating more Patois, and the intersections of Judaism, Christianity, and sexuality in his story, "Unda di Naseberry Tree."

CM: The story follows Jermaine over one summer during his childhood in Jamaica when he questions and subsequently discovers himself, despite prejudice against homosexuality. It’s told from the point of view of Jermaine as an adult, now living with his partner in Newfoundland. Use of both Patois and English also displays a melding of his upbringing and the man he’s become. How did you go about balancing languages and places and cultures within your story?

XC: The version of the story now is so different from the version I first presented. Initially there was a lot less Patois. I was worried that no one would understand what the story was getting across because readers would get stuck on the fact that they don’t understand the dialect. Both white and non-white people shared this concern with me. However, as I edited the story it was clear to me that Jermaine needed to tell his story in the way he spoke as a child, even though it was from his perspective as an adult. Jermaine’s normal adult life is basically the polar opposite to what would be considered a normal life in Jamaica, therefore it made sense that he would depart from the dialect in his adult communications. Especially if those conversations are totally removed from any Jamaican context. It’s also often seen in Jamaican culture that people speak the dialect more as children and are pushed to speak “properly” in high school and beyond. The balance of cultures in the story comes from the fact that the life I have built in Newfoundland is a mixture of my upbringing in Jamaica and the different facets of Newfoundland I have internalized.

Read the rest of Xaiver's interview on TMR's website.