Quote by Olive Senior: “History is not what happened, but what is remembered.”

This insightful distinction highlights the subjective nature of history. It reveals that our understanding of the past is shaped more by selective memory and interpretation than by objective events themselves, affecting how we learn from it.

In the mid-2010s, critical discussions around historical revisionism and the subjective nature of collective memory gained prominence globally. Senior's writing often delves into how personal narratives and cultural memory shape our understanding of the past, challenging singular accounts.

Jamaican poet and short story writer whose work draws on Caribbean folk culture, women's lives, and the natural world. Her debut collection Summer Lightning won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1987, and her poetry collection Gardening in the Tropics is a celebrated meditation on Caribbean identity and history.