In 2003, Ramsay published a novella, Aunt Jen, a coming-of-age story told as a series of letters from a girl, Sunshine, to her absent mother.[3] It explores themes of growing up in Jamaica in the 1970s, during the early years of the country's independence.[4] In a review, Maureen Warner-Lewis notes Ramsay's "charmingly revelatory" narrative, and notes her use of code-switching in her literary style.[5]
Ramsay has published three collections of free verse poems. Reviewer Barbara Collash describes the first volume, Under Basil Leaves (2010), as displaying a "decidedly female perspective, female sensibility," and says they "constitute a fresh poetic retelling of the black tragic."[6]
She has also published or contributed to numerous textbooks, preparatory texts for the CAPE and CSEC exams, and academic texts.
Honours
In 2014, Ramsay received the National Order of Merit from the government of France, in the rank of Chevalier.[7]
In 2018, she received the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs (FIPA) Award of the Century for Outstanding Scholarship in Literary and Language Studies and Creative Writing.[8]
Ramsay, Paulette; Walker, Carrie J. (November 2014). "Out Of Many, One Voice: An Interview with Paulette Ramsay". Journal of West Indian Literature. 22 (2): 42–58. JSTOR24615459.