“Jessica Carmichael is an emerging young adult fiction writer with great promise. Building on her Ghanaian-Barbadian heritage, Jessica released her debut Young Adult novel, The Full Picture, in 2025 to great acclaim. Her writing is sharp, simultaneously clever and insightful, while building up eventful moments that resonate with tension and meaning. Her uplifting work attends to the complexities of Canadian and African histories and provides a ray of light in challenging times.”
— 2026 Emerging Artist Jury
– Emerging Artist adjudicators
Jessica Carmichael is passionate about writing stories that reflect the complex and often underrepresented experiences of Black Canadian youth. Her debut young adult novel, The Full Picture, follows a young Canadian girl who travels to Ghana to learn about her deceased mother and discovers herself in more ways than one. Rooted in themes of identity and creativity, the story has been featured on CBC Radio and in The Guardian.
Having navigated the full process of creating and publishing her debut novel, Jessica launched her independent publishing company, Hibiscus Press, and aims to continue diversifying the Canadian publishing landscape with coming-of-age stories for Black Canadian readers.
Jessica is also an award-winning sports journalist and a graduate of McMaster University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Multimedia. She is currently developing her next young adult novel, in which she explores themes of reconciliation and belonging while continuing her focus on culturally grounded storytelling for Black Canadian youth.
Jessica Carmichael is an exceptionally promising literary artist whose debut novel, The Full Picture, has resonated deeply with readers through its authentic voice, vivid exploration of identity, and culturally rich portrayal of experiences of the diaspora in Africa.
Wilhelmina Asaam
Midier Editorial
