Today, Layaway Child is out in the world. And now, it’s no longer just mine. It belongs to whoever picks it up, reads it, finds something in it that feels familiar, or new, or difficult, or true.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey in ways big and small. It means more than I can say.
❤️ Chanel
Gratitude to Maureen Halushak, editor-in-chief of Chatelaine magazine for this article about Layaway Child. I grew up reading Chatelaine because it was one of my mom’s go-to magazines, so this moment feels surreal.
Link in bio and stories.
Layaway Child is out tomorrow, May 12.
@chatelainemag@transatlantic_agency@houseofanansi
Layaway Child by Chanel Sutherland, published by House of Anansi Press, 2026.
Magnificent stories about Caribbean immigrants navigating the emotional terrain of girlhood, displacement, longing, and identity across continents.
Layaway Child is a luminous debut short story collection by award-winning writer Chanel Sutherland that explores the emotional landscapes of Caribbean families fractured by migration, especially the harrowing yet resilient journeys of Black girls and women. In lyrical, linked stories, Sutherland traces the lives of mothers working abroad as housekeepers and nannies, and the children they left behind.
From lush island childhoods marked by absence and community, to the cold, alienating spaces of Canadian cities, Layaway Child captures the complexity of growing up between worlds. A mother, newly arrived in Montreal, is kept from speaking to her daughters by her own mother’s misguided attempt to help her let go of home. A schoolgirl becomes a spectacle under the gaze of white classmates. A young girl’s curiosity about the cosmos collides with the confusion of puberty. Sutherland brings deep compassion and sharp insight to each moment, revealing both the beauty of island life and the harshness of immigration’s toll.
CHANEL SUTHERLAND is a Vincentian Canadian writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. She won the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, which she was also longlisted for in 2022. Chanel is also the winner of the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize and the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and was named one of CBC Books 30 Writers to Watch in 2022. Chanel lives in Montreal.
💛: @csutherwrites@houseofanansi
#caribbean #shortstories #shortstory #ireadcanadian #bookstagram
In the studio for All in a Week-End on CBC Radio One, sitting down with Sonali Karnick to talk about Layaway Child.
Sonali created such a thoughtful, generous conversation, and I’m really grateful for that.
Thank you to the All in a Week-End team for the warm welcome. 💛
I truly enjoyed my chat with Hema on the @themoreishpodcast . From colourism to the cultural silence in Caribbean families and “seeming” lack of emotion, to the importance of community and empathy in understanding the immigrant experience, we covered a whole lot. Go check out the episode.
My ❤️s. My littles. The whole point. I’m the luckiest auntie in the world.
And yes, she threw the mother of all tantrums immediately after this photo because she wanted the book.
Posted with permission from their mummy - my sister 😊
UPDATED: It’s only been a day… and it’s almost sold out on Amazon.
Thank you to everyone who preordered, shared, messaged, showed up, and held this book before it even had a chance to find its footing.
If you’ve been thinking about getting a copy, now’s a good time—there are just a few left before the next batch comes in. There are also copies available at your local indie bookstore and you can order one if they’re not stocked. Plus - libraries; need I say more. I ❤️ libraries.
Grateful, a little stunned, and feeling very held right now. 🤍
Also, feeling 90s nostalgia as a result of rereading these stories.
I walked into @indigopmt today and saw LAYAWAY CHILD on the shelves. And then I got to sign copies. There’s something surreal about opening a book you wrote, in a store you’ve browsed a thousand times, and writing your name inside it for someone you may never meet.
The nice employee added the little “Canadian” sticker and the “Signed by Author” sticker. Small things, but they definitely made me smile/cry. Like—this is real, real.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this feeling. And honestly, I don’t want to.
Tell me your first Indigo/Chapter story! Did you cry, laugh, dance, screech (I did that too, and scared the guy reading peacefully in a corner).
Two book releases in one day.
What a privilege it was to read at the official launch of On Occasion: Poems for the People yesterday at @destiil_books . Poets are magical people and the world is always in need of some magic.
Thank you @occasional_poems and @coachhousebooks for putting together this brilliant collection of poems, and for including one of mine.
It was especially heartwarming to see Layaway Child on the shelf of a bookstore for the first time at @destiil_books .
If we measure a life well lived by tears, then I’m a truly blessed person.
💕
Massive congratulations to Chanel Sutherland (@csutherwrites ), because today is the official publication day for her debut book of stories, LAYAWAY CHILD. It's a day an author never forgets. Years and years of hard work finally made fully real, and now it's out there in the wild for randoms to read. Too exciting!
My preorder came early, so I'm nearly done! Buy your own copy of LAYAWAY CHILD today and support a Vincentian-Canadian author, then go enjoy her lovely, heartfelt book.
Out today! ✨ LAYAWAY CHILD, a collection of stories about the displacement of Caribbean mothers and daughters across continents. 🌴 #PubDay
Here are a few words from the author, Chanel Sutherland (@csutherwrites )! 💬
🔗 LAYAWAY CHILD is available for purchase now where books are sold. Tap this post at the link in our bio to shop now!
