Ptolemy Turtle

Melisande Potter-Hall began a performance career at the age of five and received scholarships for achievements in ballet, art and piano. In 1971, she wrote her first children’s book for which she received an Ingram Merrill literary award. In 1987, she arrived in Jamaicato perform for national television and to conduct a seminar at the University of the West Indies. On touring the island, she became enamored with the vibrancy of nature’s colors, the different way of life and the agile grace of the people, and she decided to make Jamaicaher home.

Ptolemy Turtle is her first Jamaican story, and was written while she resided in Windsor Castle, Portland. As the story grew, she would read a portion each evening to passerbys along an unused railroad track. Melisande is married to Jamaican musician Michael Hall and lives between Ocho Rios and Rhode Island.