Words by Jesse Serwer—

Fans of short fiction and smart, urban-themed literature have been raving for years about Akashic Books‘ Noir books, short-story anthologies organized around cities and places like Brooklyn, Bogota and Cape Cod. For its latest edition, the Brooklyn publisher tapped Colin Channer, author of the Jamaican novel Waiting in Vain among other writings, to edit Kingston Noir. Available June 1, the book includes short stories from Jamaican authors including Channer, Marlon James, Kwame Dawes, Patricia Powell, Marcia Douglas and more as well as Kingston-set tales from England’s Ian Thomson and Nigerian-born Chris Abani.