Dancehall Rebel

Dancehall DJ is a groundbreaking novel portraying a Caribbean Canadian teen challenging the ongoing legacy of homophobia in her  musical and cultural community. Dancehall music and culture is undergoing a large shift. This book is a smart and savvy tale of a teen finding the confidence and voice to be an agent of change in her musical culture—and with her family.

Denise is a Toronto teen who was raised on Jamaican dancehall music; her dad is a leading local DJ who has imbued her life with a love of music. Denise has aspirations to follow in her dad’s footsteps, but there’s a problem: Denise identifies as queer, and the music she loves  often reflects homophobia. Her mother and relatives are also not accepting. But when she moves to Ottawa for first year university school, encouraged by a sympathetic cousin, she finds a community of like-minded kids who love and cherish both music and diversity.

This lively true-to-life portrayal of teen lives and relationships puts a very contemporary spin on the cultural conflict often between more traditional families and their young family members.