Roger Mais was a Jamaican journalist, novelist, poet and playwright. He was born on August 11, 1905 in Kingston to a middle class Jamaican family. Roger Mais enjoyed many successes in his lifetime and by 1951 Mais had already received ten first prizes in West Indian literary competitions. Through his literary expressions, Mais played a very important role in the cultural and political development of Jamaica. He was then thereby awarded the high honour of the Order of Jamaica in 1978. Surely he had made a significant impact on Jamaica and the region as his novel, Brother Man is used in schools throughout the Caribbean. Mais started his career as a journalist and contributor for the weekly newspaper, Public Opinion from 1939 to 1952, which was affiliated with the People's National Party. He also wrote several plays, reviews, and short stories for the newspaper Focus and the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, focusing his articles on social injustice and inequality. He used this approach to reach his local audience and to primarily push for a national identity and anti-colonialism. Roger Mais will be remembered not only as an amazing writer but as a man for the people, a writer for the people and most importantly a writer who wrote on important issues such as poverty and political injustice.
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