Category Archives: Interview

CSK Legends: Mildred D. Taylor

Photo Credit: The Hornbook

Family history has always fascinated me. Like the elders of many African American families, mine migrated from backwater Southern towns to a more thriving one in the 1930’s.  Their personal histories were, however, closed doors. Fortunately, encountering Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry and Let the Circle Be Unbroken in elementary school gave me keys to understanding. Once this access was granted, I could feel and imagine the worlds of my grandparents and their predecessors– comforts and terrors alike.

Like the West African griots of long ago who passed down family histories, Taylor has devoted most of her literary career to telling one story: that of the Logans, a proud black family of the Southern United States. Her stories are to children’s literature what Alex Haley’s Roots is to adult historical fiction. Both make history dance and command our attention, awakening ancestral memory in a way that cold facts and timelines cannot.

Special thanks to Janell Walden Agyeman of Marie Brown Associates and Regina Hayes of Penguin Random House for helping to arrange this exchange which happened by email in Spring 2019. It has been lightly edited for posting on this blog.

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JW: First, thank you for agreeing to this interview. After Song of the Trees was published in 1975, did you have any idea that you would continue to share parts of Cassie’s family story for the next forty years? Also, you’re putting the finishing touches on the final installment which you’ve titled All the Days Past, All the Days to Come. How does it feel drawing the Logan family saga to a close?

MDT:  I had planned from the very beginning to tell Cassie’s family story, although I didn’t have any idea how long it would take.  I have felt such an obligation to finish the story; it has pressed on me.  At one point I even gave back the contract advance for the final book, feeling the pressure was too much.  But I had made a commitment, and I wanted to finish the Logan story. It saddens me that this book is the end, but there is also a sense of relief. I am done!

Photo courtesy of Mildred D. Taylor

JW: Along with the inspiration that you got from your family, specifically your father, what published writers influenced your storytelling?

MDT: It may surprise you to learn that the writer who influenced me the most was Harper Lee.  I loved Scout of To Kill A Mockingbird.  My Cassie Logan had a different story to tell, from a Black point of view.

JW: Your work foregrounds the dignity and self-respect of the Logan family in the face of the indignities of the Jim Crow era. In every instance, your stories move beyond struggle and woe to emphasize courage, the power of family unity. I also love how nature plays an important role in all of the Logan stories that I’ve read. Do you intentionally place courage and reverence for nature at the heart of your work?

MDT:  Yes, both courage and reverence for nature. I was born in Mississippi but left when I was three months old, and although I grew up in Toledo, my family went yearly–sometimes even twice a year— back home to Mississippi, to the land.  It was beautiful, with forests and ponds and we would walk it drinking in the beauty and appreciating the calm and peace of the trees and the land our family had struggled to obtain and hold onto. This was land my great-grandparents had bought after they came from slavery. When I saw the land where I now live in Colorado, it spoke to me in the same way.

JW: After winning your first literary awards, namely the CSK, what changes happened in your career? And did this kind of recognition have any effect-on how you approached your writing?

MDT:  Well, actually, my first literary award was winning the contest sponsored by The Council on Interracial Books for Children, and that led to the publication of Song of the Trees.  My second literary award was the Newbery Medal, for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.  So in a sense, big changes had already occurred.  But of course it was wonderful to win the Coretta Scott King award for four of my books. I have never liked making speeches.  Preparing speeches and delivering them drained and distracted me from my work; therefore, I have seldom attended award ceremonies. When The Road to Memphis won the award, I was actually on the dais with Mrs. Rosa Parks and was able to talk with her. My greatest regret concerning the award is when I was unable to attend the ceremony to accept the Coretta Scott King award for The Land, and I missed the chance to receive the award from Mrs. King herself.

Image Credit: Kadir Nelson/Puffin Books

JW: Before becoming an established writer, I read that you taught on both a Navajo reservation in Arizona and in Ethiopia. These cultures have strong poetry and verbal storytelling traditions. How, if at all, did these experiences influence your own storytelling?

MDT:   I spent three weeks on the Navajo reservation in preparation for teaching with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia.  There were only white teachers on the reservation and the children crowded around me since my skin was brown like theirs.  One little boy in particular was so sweet to me; he put his arm next to mine and said, “Look, Miss, we’re alike!” I had similar experiences in Ethiopia, where the people I met had never seen an African American.

Although both Navajo and Ethiopian cultures have a storytelling tradition, my own storytelling grew entirely out of the Southern tradition [of the U.S].  We were a family of storytellers. Whenever the family was together, we loved hearing and telling the stories of past events.

JW:  From your perspective as a literary veteran and culture keeper, what value do you think that awards like the CSK have? Are they still as important as they once were? And how would you compare what’s being published today for children of color to that of past decades?

MDT:  I am not in a position to evaluate this.  When I am writing, I don’t read other writers’ work, and I’m usually quite unaware of the awards and their impact.  One trend I deplore is the pressure to whitewash the past. The past was not pretty – I lived it and I remember and I am determined to portray it as it was.


Mildred D. Taylor has won the Coretta Scott King Author Award for The Land (2002), The Road to Memphis (1991), The Friendship (1988) and Let the Circle Be Unbroken (1982). She is also a two-time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Author Honor for Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry (1977) and Song of the Trees (1976).

Jené Watson is Chair of the CSK Technology Committee as well as a mother, writer, educator and librarian who lives and works in suburban Atlanta. She is the author of The Spirit That Dreams: Conversations with Women Artists of Color.

CSK Legends: Eloise Greenfield

 

Children need to know, and to see in books, the truth — the beauty, intelligence, courage, and ingenuity of African and African American people.  Eloise Greenfield, CSK Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award Acceptance Speech


CSK Legends
is a series of interviews saluting early recipients of the Coretta Scott King Book Award.  For our first post in this series we raise the spotlight on Eloise Greenfield.

With a career spanning over fifty years and nearly as many books to her credit, Eloise Greenfield is one of the most beloved authors of children’s literature.  

With work that spans a range of genres, including poetry and informative prose, Greenfield won her first Coretta Scott King Honor for her biography Paul Robeson in 1976. In 1978 she received the CSK Author Award for Africa Dream and a CSK Author Honor for her biography of Mary McLeod Bethune. She subsequently won CSK Author Honors for Childtimes: A Three Generation Memoir (1980), Nathaniel Talking (1990),  Night on Neighborhood Street (1992) and The Great Migration: Journey to the North (2012).

The following interview took place over several email exchanges and has been edited for clarity. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jené Watson: What an honor to interview you! Congratulations on being the 2018 recipient of Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Eloise Greenfield: It is my honor to have received such a special award.

JW: You originally planned to be a teacher, then worked in civil service for a while before (or at the same time that) you began writing in earnest. What made you decide to focus your attention on writing exclusively for children?

EG:  My shyness interfered with my plan to become a teacher, and after I had worked for a while in the 1950s as a civil service clerk-typist, I became bored.  I had always loved books and words, and I felt that I could become a writer, one who was reclusive, as some writers are.

Throughout the 1950s, I studied books on the craft of writing and submitted my poems, stories and articles to publishers. After many rejections, I finally had a poem published in 1962, and throughout the sixties my poems and short stories for children and adults were published in Scholastic Scope and in Negro Digest.

Courtesy of Eloise Greenfield

In 1971, I headed the adult fiction division of the D.C. Black Writers’ Workshop, founded and directed by Annie Crittenden. I had written Bubbles, which later became my first children’s book, and  Sharon Bell Mathis, who headed the children’s literature division, suggested that I write a picture book biography for the Crowell Publishers series, now a part of HarperCollins. Subsequently, I continued to write for children.

JW: Songs are the stories that children are first introduced to, and in some cases songs and poetry are one and the same. Two of my favorite things about your work are its everyday poetic language and your commitment to offering more rounded views of black children, families and communities. Please talk about why this is so important.

EG: I feel that poetic language is not restricted to formal speech. We can hear in all kinds of language the in-depth meanings and the musicality that make it poetic. I want children to know this, to hear the power of language and also to know how beautiful and intelligent African and African American people are.

On the other hand, writing is never fun for me. It’s work, because I have to concentrate on the craft I have studied and keep revising until all aspects —  the meanings and the musicality of language — are exactly what I want them to be. No, writing is not fun, but it’s satisfying work, and I love every minute of it!

JW: You won your first CSK Honor in 1976 for your biography Paul Robeson.  A little before that, in 1973, you wrote a similar biography on Rosa Parks and in 1977 you devoted one to the life of educator Mary McLeod Bethune. How did you select the subjects for your biographies? Did you choose the subjects to write about or did a publisher suggest them to you?

EG:  These biographies are all a part of the Crowell Biography Series. I chose them because I didn’t feel that enough had been said about them and the importance of their work.  

JW: What effect did winning your first CSK have on how you thought about your writing?  What kinds of shifts did you notice in your career after winning it?

EG:  Awards have not changed the way I feel about my writing. I feel that it’s important that writers take seriously their efforts and the effect they have on the public and always to do their best work. Awards bring attention to an author’s work and often an increase in sales, and are wonderful pats on the back to let us know that our work is appreciated.

JW: Some critics insist that the world has moved beyond the need for ethnically-based awards and that awards like the CSK are not as relevant or necessary as they once were.  As an elder who’s witnessed trends and cycles, can you speak to this? And how would you compare the present terrain of publishing for children of color to that of past decades?

EG: Although there have been improvements in the number and quality of good books about African and African American people, these awards are as important as they ever were.  Racism still exists in life and in literature, and even if racial discrimination were to end, the awards would take their place among all the other awards that exist in literature and in so many other fields.

JW: You’re keeping busy with fun projects where you’re collaborating with younger artists.  One of them is a lively Youtube video of you doing “Nathaniel’s Rap,” filmed and produced by your grandson, Terique Greenfield.  The other is a gorgeous picture book about a boy and his dog titled Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me illustrated by Iranian artist, Ehsan Abdollahi.  How did these projects come about?

EG: The “Nathaniel’s Rap” video was produced several years ago. [It’s a] poem from my book Nathaniel Talking. My grandson, Terique Greenfield, who is a composer and also has sometimes directed videos, wrote the music and directed the video for me. It turned out very well, and it was fun, because I had no creative responsibility. I just had to follow Terique’s directions.

Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me cover courtesy of Ehsan Abdollahi and Tiny Owl Publishing

About two years ago, I was followed on Twitter by Tiny Owl Publishing, a company in Britain. I followed them back.  I then sent the manuscript for Thinker. They loved it and engaged Ehsan Abdollahi, a highly regarded artist, to illustrate it. The book was published in April 2018, and has received many favorable reviews. The British edition of Thinker contains a few British spellings, and I am happy that an edition with U.S. spellings will be published in the U.S., in April 2019, by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.

Two other acclaimed artists have recently illustrated my books:  Don Tate, PAR-TAY!: Dance of the Veggies and Their Friends (2018) and Daniel Minter, The Women Who Caught the Babies: A Story of African American Midwives (2019), both by Alazar Press.

JW: Many of your earlier books are still in print after more than 40 years. To what to you credit your literary longevity?

EG:  I credit the longevity of some books to many factors. In addition to the quality of the text and illustrations, there is the subject matter and the tastes of the reading public, the work of the agents and publicists, marketing by the publisher and booksellers, as well as the awards and favorable reviews that bring attention to the work.

 

The Women Who Caught the Babies: A Story of African American Midwives and Par-Tay: Dance of the Veggies and their Friends courtesy of Alazar Press

 

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Follow Eloise Greenfield on Twitter @ELGreenfield

Jené Watson is a writer, mother and public librarian who lives in suburban Atlanta.  She loves arts and history and is the author of The Spirit That Dreams: Conversations with Women Artists of Color (indigopen.com).

An interview with author David Barclay Moore, winner of the 2018 Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Author Award for New Talent

Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Jina DuVernay: You tweeted that you were excited to see a “shiny, metal sticker” on your book.  What does having the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award sticker on your debut novel, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, mean to you?

David Barclay Moore: Having the Coretta Scott King / John Steptoe Award on the cover of my book is the visual realization of a lifetime of hard work and dreams. Ever since I was a child being dropped off at our local library to find books to read, I’ve recognized the “shiny, metal sticker” of the CSK Awards as a symbol of special books, noteworthy books. Now that my name and the title of my book, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, will be forever associated with that emblem of excellence, I am extremely moved and honored. In some ways, it represents a full circle, from a child who read those books to an author who has written one.

Jina DuVernay: According to a Deadline.com article, you will not only be writing the script for the film version of your award-winning novel, but you will also be the executive producer.   Did you encounter any difficulty in establishing your participation in the making of the film?

David Barclay Moore: I’m very excited to be working with actor/director Michael B. Jordan and his excellent team at Outlier Society Productions on the screen adaptation of my novel, The Stars Beneath Our Feet.  From the very beginning of this process, in fact, our very first conversation, Michael expressed an interest to have me directly involved in the film production. He had done his research and had not only read some of my other creative writing but also watched my film work as well. Throughout this whole process, he’s shown a great deal of passion for the story of The Stars Beneath Our Feet, him having grown up similarly to that of my central character, Lolly Rachpaul.

Jina DuVernay: Beyond the movie version of your novel, will we see any more of Lolly in the future?

David Barclay Moore: Lately, I’ve been very busy working on several writing projects as well as the screenplay to The Stars Beneath Our Feet’s film version. While there is no direct sequel planned for my first novel, a few of the characters will pop up elsewhere. I’m a big fan of intertextuality. For instance, I’ve already written a manuscript, which deals with how the character “Rockit’s” story arc resolves itself. Additionally, I have plans for a YA novel that explores the story behind Lolly’s graffiti artist friend, Daryl R. But will my protagonist Lolly return? Who knows?

This interview was conducted on May 16, 2018.

Jina DuVernay is the Special Collections Librarian at Alabama State University. She is a member of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee.

Dr. Claudette McLinn Interviews CSK Award Winner Javaka Steptoe

Javaka Steptoe won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award in 1998, which was his first major book award. Since then, Steptoe has created a body of work as an illustrator and author and garnered many awards in the field of children’s literature. He recently won the 2017 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for his book, Radiant Child: The Story of Young Jean-Michel Basquiat. We caught up with Javaka Steptoe, who has been busy traveling outside the United States and touring the children’s literature scene.

CSM: Coretta Scott King Book Awards, which will turn 50 in 2019, was the first award to recognize your work. You won the 1998 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for the book, In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall. How did the Coretta Scott King Book Award help your career?

JS: This Coretta Scott King Book Awards is looked at as an award of excellence in the children’s book industry, most of all for children’s books of color. It is a major award to start off one’s career.  It put me on the radar of many publishers and made it easy for me to illustrate my next book, Do You Know What I’ll Do? by Charlotte Zolotow.

CSM: You have produced a body of work for children of all ages from Radiant Child; to Jimi: Sounds like a Rainbow; to Sweet, Sweet, Baby, which is one of my favorites; and many more books. What do you hope your readers will know or feel when they finish one of your books?

JS: It depends on the book. Whatever the book is saying, that’s what I want the reader to feel. Not on a superficial level but deep in their bones.  For example, with Sweet, Sweet Baby, I want the reader to feel the love between mother and child.

JS: I am also interested in complexity. There are lots of ways to talk about a subject. You can talk about it superficially or with depth and nuances. The latter creates a book you can grow with.

CSM: For a young man, it seems like you work all of the time. What do you do for fun?

JS: I read books—science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries. I like books that make you think about the world in a different way.  I also dance. I am always taking dance classes such as African Dance, Salsa, Improvisation, and Swing.

CSM: You have accomplished so much so far. What do you see in your future?

JS: Just to keep writing. Keep illustrating. I am interested in strengthening my ability as a writer. I’m also interested in the development of books. My belief is that there will always be paper books. They have a certain quality that cannot be replaced by technology. I see technology as a tool to help expand ideas and content within books.

CSM: Is there anything else you would like to say?

JS: [I would like to say] whatever you do, do it because you love it.

Javaka Steptoe is the son of award-winning author and illustrator John Steptoe and Stephanie Douglas. Both parents were artists. The Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award was established in 1995 and named in memory of his father.

Dr. Claudette McLinn is Chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee.  She is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature.