Zelma Inez Edgell MBE, better known as Zee Edgell (October 21, 1940 – December 20, 2020), was a Belizean-born American writer who wrote four novels. She retired as a tenured professor of English at Kent State University.

Biography

Zelma Inez Tucker was born on October 21, 1940, in Belize City, British Honduras (now Belize), to Veronica (née Walker) and Clive A. Tucker. After attending St. Catherine Academy in Belize City, which inspired St. Cecilia's Academy in her novel Beka Lamb, Edgell studied journalism at a language school in London (1965) and later continued her education at the University of the West Indies (1990). She worked as a journalist, first for The Daily Gleaner in Jamaica in 1959, and later became the founding editor of The Reporter.

From 1966 to 1968, she taught at St. Catherine Academy in Belize. After serving as editor of The Reporter, she returned to teach at St. Catherine for the 1980–81 school year. From 1981 to 1987, she was the first Director of the Women's Bureau in the Government of Belize and later became the Director of the Department of Women's Affairs.

She lived in many different places, including Jamaica, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Somalia, where she worked with development groups and the Peace Corps. She served as director of women's affairs for the government of Belize, was a lecturer at University College of Belize (which later became the University of Belize), and was an associate professor in the English department at Kent State University in Ohio from 1993 to 2009. There, she taught creative writing and literature. Edgell also traveled internationally to give book readings and speak about Belize's history and literature. She is considered Belize's most important contemporary writer.

Edgell was married to Alvin George "Al" Edgell, an American educator who worked in international development for many years. They had two children: Holly, a journalist, and Randall, a doctor who specializes in treating and preventing strokes.

Edgell helped create the Belizean Writers Series, published by Cubola Productions. She edited and contributed stories to the fifth book in the series, Memories, Dreams and Nightmares: A Short Story Anthology of Belizean Women Writers, published in 2004.

In 2020, Edgell died at her home in St. Louis, Missouri, at the age of 80. A remembrance ceremony for her was held at Government House in Belize City in 2022. Speakers included Francis Fonseca and her daughter, Holly.

Honours

Edgell was given the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours list for her work in literature and helping the community. In 2009, the University of the West Indies gave her an honorary degree called D.Litt. during graduation ceremonies in Cave Hill, Barbados.

Works

Edgell's first book, Beka Lamb, was published in 1982. It describes the early years of the nationalist movement in British Honduras from the perspective of a teenage girl who attends high school in the colony. Released one year after Belize gained independence, Beka Lamb was the first novel published in the new country. It became Belize's first novel to reach an international audience and won Britain's Fawcett Society Book Prize in 1982. This prize is given each year to a work of fiction that helps people understand the role of women in society. Parts of Beka Lamb have been included in collections such as The Arnold Anthology of Post Colonial Literatures in English (1996), Daughters of Africa (1992), and Her True-True Name (1989).

Edgell's next novel, In Times Like These (1991), shows the challenges of a nearly independent Belize through the experiences of an adult woman who works as the director of women's affairs. Edgell once held this position herself.

Her third novel, The Festival of San Joaquin (1997), follows the story of a woman accused of killing her husband. In her short stories, Edgell explores the complex social and racial differences in Belize through the lives of her female characters. Edgell has said she hopes to write about male characters in the future and to share stories from her travels around the world. The Festival of San Joaquin was reprinted by Macmillan Caribbean in October 2008.

Edgell's fourth novel was published in January 2007 by Heinemann's Caribbean Writers Series. The story of Time and the River takes place during the time when slavery was common in Belize. It follows the life of Leah Lawson, a young enslaved woman who later becomes a slaveowner through marriage. She even ends up owning members of her own family. The story happens during a time when enslaved people worked in the forestry industry and when slave revolts occurred—events that are part of Belize's history. Edgell celebrated the release of this book in Belize with visits to the University of Belize in Belmopan and Belize City.