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Graziella Greenwich is a writer of political novels and short stories for children, a campaigner for civil rights in Central America and a one-time junior comrade-in-arms of Fidel Castro during the Cuban Revolution. Only now, after a voluntary seclusion of many years among Indian tribes in the Amazon jungle is Graziella Greenwich's work becoming known, following her recent return to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Early years
Graziella Greenwich (née Berwick) was born in St. Katherine's parish, Jamaica, in 1936, the only daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and of a local beauty queen, herself descended in a direct line from runaway plantation slaves.

She grew up leading a life of privilege amid incredible wealth but also a fair share of intrigue because her father, who was a leading businessman, was involved in sponsoring controversial political activists. His death at the hands of a suspected hired killer working for political opponents shattered Graziella’s cosy world and acted as a wake-up call for the young girl. Shunning her mother’s advice, she embarked on a life of adventure which took her first to the United States, where she was introduced into anarchist circles, then on to Cuba with a group of young volunteers to join Fidel Castro’s guerrilla uprising.

First marriage and subsequent disillusion with men
It was in Cuba that Graziella met her first husband, Federico, a fiery young Turk from the front ranks of the Cuban guerrilla movement. However, the marriage was to be short-lived: less than a year afterwards, Federico left Graziella for a gay lover, a disappointment which seriously rocked Graziella’s opinion of the opposite sex.

A chance meeting with the love of her life
She spent the next ten years living a life of seclusion among the tribes of the Amazon, and very little is known of her time there. Later, she became active in organising a non-violent protest movement by the native people against the increasingly aggressive encroachments of logging firms in the rainforest. During this time she met an eccentric entomologist from New Zealand fifteen years her senior, Herbert Greenwich, who was travelling the Amazon in search of a rare breed of spiders. Though at first it seemed that they were utterly incompatible, since Graziella was afraid of spiders, Herbert helped her to overcome her phobia. They eventually fell in love and after a short romance, Graziella and Herbert were married. They had no children, but their marriage was a long and happy one.

Life after Herbert
Although her beloved Herbert passed away several years ago, Graziella Greenwich keeps his memory alive by writing about the creatures he lived for: spiders. The lead characters of her stories are based on two unusual spiders which Herbert Greenwich kept as pets for many years. This lends Graziella Greenwich’s work a unique twist, which is further spiced up by her unusual background and life experience.

Today
Graziella Greenwich divides her time between her native Jamaica and London, where she tends to spend the summer months. She employs a part-time assistant on this side of the Atlantic to represent her and take care of her publishing interests in Europe.

Major works
"The adventures of Spinny and Spinnach", 2004. A collection of short stories for children.

"LondonZoo", 2007. A political novel written as a fable, about the excesses of modern society.