Ten great works of sea literature by people of color

Richard J. King lives in Santa Cruz, California and is a visiting professor in Maritime Literature and History with the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

He is the author of five books of nonfiction about our relationship to the ocean, including most recently Sailing Alone: A Surprising History of Isolation and Survival at Sea.

[The Page 99 Test: Ahab's Rolling Sea]

At Electric Lit King tagged "ten great works of sea literature in English by people of color." One title on the list:

Tentacle by Rita Indiana, translated by Achy Obejas

Set in the Dominican Republic, this work of cli-fi, speculative fiction, bends the rules of this list in that it was written first in Spanish as La mucama de Omicunlé (2015)—the English translation is by the Cuban writer Achy Obejas—but I can’t resist slipping Tentacle in here, because Rita Indiana spun such a fascinating story of a beach town ravaged by global warming, overfishing, drugs, and capitalism. Prisoners watch Blue Lagoon in a room that despite the fans and the shade bakes at 115˚ F: “Movies in which the sea is full of fish and humans run in bare skin under the sun are now part of the required programming during this season, just like movies about Christ during Holy Week.” Short, profane, and punchy, Tentacle explores the art world, Spanish colonialism, gender, sex work, coastal tourism, and marine conservation. This is truly a 21st-century work of sea literature.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue