Talk Stories

'Fresh, risky, improvisational and hard-to-categorize writing' - Chicago Tribune

Talk Stories is a collection of Jamaica Kincaid's original writing for the New Yorker's 'Talk of the Town' column from 1978 to 1983. New York is a town that fast adopts those who embrace it, and in these early pieces Kincaid discovers its many hidden secrets and urban mannerisms as she learns the worlds of publishing and partying, of fashion and popular music, and how to call a cauliflower a crudite.

This is an insightful record of Kincaid's development as a young writer; the newcomer who sensitively records her impressions here takes root to become one of our most respected authors.