Zalika Reid-Benta

Zalika Reid-Benta is a Canadian author.^[1] Her debut novel River Mumma was a finalist for the 2024 Trillium Book Award^[2] and her debut short story collection Frying Plantain won and was nominated for numerous awards.^[3]

Zalika Reid-Benta
Born	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Author
Alma mater	University of Toronto, Columbia University
Notable works	Frying Plantain, River Mumma

River Mumma received starred reviews from publications such as Publishers Weekly.^[4] It was listed as one of the best fiction books of 2023 on numerous platforms, including CBC Books.^[5] The novel is a "magical realist story" inspired by Jamaican folklore. The main character, Alicia Gale, is a young Black woman having a quarter-life crisis, while adventuring through the streets of Toronto, Ontario.^[6]

Frying Plantain is a collection of linked short stories centering on the coming of age of Kara Davis, a young Jamaican-Canadian girl growing up in the Eglinton West neighbourhood of Toronto.^[7]

Early life

Reid-Benta grew up in Toronto.^[8] As a child she enjoyed books written by Judy Blume and movies like Now and Then and My Girl, but she didn't see herself represented in these stories.^[8] Even as a child she knew she wanted to write.^[9]

She graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours BA in English and Cinema studies and with a minor in Caribbean Studies.^[6] She then received an MFA from Columbia University with a concentration in fiction.^[6] In 2017 she attended the Writers Studio at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity and was a 2019 John Gardner Fiction Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference.^[6] Prior to the publication of her book, she was mentored by writers Victor LaValle, George Elliott Clarke, Janice Galloway and Olive Senior.^[7]

Inspirations

In a Giller Prize Spotlight interview, Reid-Benta describes Toni Morrison as being one of her literary heroes and mentions that “reading what she does with language, definitely motivates me to write the best way I can.”^[8]

When interviewed by Vannessa Barnier, Reid-Benta also describes that Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, and Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche were inspirations.^[10]

In an interview for River Mumma with the Library Journal, Reid-Benta mentions Nalo Hopkinson, Octavia Butler and Cherie Dimaline as inspirations and some of her favourite writers in science fiction and fantasy.^[11]

Accolades

Reid-Benta has received several major awards for her work, including:

• 2023 ByBlacks People's Choice Awards for Best Author^[12]
• 2019 ByBlacks People’s Choice Awards for Best Author.^[13]
• 2019 Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Frying Plantain.^[14]
• 2020 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Frying Plantain.^[15]

River Mumma was shortlisted for the 2024 Trillium Book Award.^[16] Frying Plantain was shortlisted for the 2020 Toronto Book Awards,^[17] for the 2020 Trillium Book Awards,^[18] and the 2020 Forest of Reading® Evergreen Award. It was a longlisted nominee for the 2019 Giller Prize.^[8] and it was nominated for the 2021 White Pine Award.^[19]