Wadadli Pen 2020: Post-Awards (A Virtual Gallery)

We weren’t able to have actual live awards this year (the awards announcement was done via facebook live and our release was sent out to the media– thanks to the Daily Observer, 268today, Antiguanewsroom, and anyone else who ran it). We do have pictures, though, ‘thanks’ to our drawn out post-awards season of trying to connect winners with their prizes. An unexpected side-benefit of having to do so much communication virtually is the patrons, parents, and participants who’ve stopped to look back and share their thoughts and pictures. We appreciate it and are delighted to share with you…

This picture from long time patron Frank B. Armstrong’s rep, presenting main prize winner (tied) Andre J. P. Warner (author of A Bright Future for Tomorrow) with his $500 cheque from the company, while both modelling good mask etiquette (in light of the global pandemic that forced a change in our usual award protocols as it has in facial wear, personal space, and hygiene all over the country and the world – remember to keep #socialdistancing and #besafe).

This picture of Andre who tied with 11 year old Cheyanne Darroux (author of Tom, the Ninja Crab) for the main prize – their names will be on the Alstyne Allen Memorial Challenge Plaque (pictured) and also won the 18 to 35 and Imagine an Future/Climate Change prize was sent to us by the Best of Books, our usual awards host, plaque sponsor, and longtime patron, which contributed a selection of books to each 2020 finalist. Andre’s book haul also includes local authors‘ Brenda Lee Browne’s London Rocks and Just Write journal and Joanne C. Hillhouse’s Musical Youth (hard cover edition), and US$250 worth of books sponsored by Sean Lyons (a NYC-based recent tourist who contributed US$500 worth of books which was divided between the two main prize winners). Winners’ choice.

This image of 13 to 17 winner D’Chaiya Emmanuel (author of Two Worlds Collide) is also from Best of Books, where she picked up her books contributed by the bookstore, her gifts from Juneth Webson (who contributed gift packages which were shared among several winners and the $500 which went toward Andre’s climate change prize), cash from Lawrence Jardine (who contributed $500 which was divided among the 13 to 17s), $200 from D. Gisele Isaac, a free eye exam from Paradise Vision Center, and an external hard drive from the Cushion Club (which also sent us an image of their gift wrapped prize).

Zaniah Pigott (author of A Mermaid), who was 3rd 7 to 12 and received books from Best of Books, Cindy’s Bookstore (as did all winners 7 to 12), and copies of Musical Youth and With Grace (both paperback) from Joanne C. Hillhouse.

Congrats to them all. You can read their stories and all winning stories through the years, here. Thanks to the ones who dropped us a line. Such as…

Aria-Rose Browne (author of The Fabled Truth, and 3rd placed 13 to 17, who won Musical Youth, cash from Lawrence Jardine, the books from the Best of Books, and the gift from Juneth Webson): “I would like to thank you all so much for both the opportunity and rewards. I am so thankful to have made it as a Short Lister much less third place, especially as this is my first writing competition. I really appreciate, and thank you from the bottom of my heart and I will be sure to keep writing.”

Andre J. P. Warner: “…excellent job for organizing Wadadli pen for another year once again.”

Dyna, mom of Sienna Harney-Barnes (author of A New World, honourable mention 7 to 12, who won books from Cindy’s Bookstore and Best of Books in addition to The Wonderful World of Yohan and Antigua My Antigua, contributed by the authors Floree Williams Whyte and Barbara Arrindell, respectively): “Thank you so much. Sienna was tickled pink to be acknowledged. She truly enjoyed the experience.”

Zaniah: “Hello Joanne, Thank you so much for the experience you and Wadadli Pen have provided. It was such a fun time and I’m very thankful for all the help you have given to allow me to advance so far. I have read some of the other stories and they are all interesting and fun. I will still strive to write better stories and hope to enter with my brother next year.”

Her mother wrote as well: “Thank you so much for these books for my avid reader Zaniah. Zaniah and I are very grateful for this opportunity for her to showcase her story telling.”

You know what I appreciate most about these notes, that hint that each writer feels encouraged to continue writing – that’s the goal. Finally, I encourage you to join these dope people whose feedback I found here and on social media, and leave a comment beneath the winning stories.

“I read both winning entries (A Bright Future for Tomorrow and Tom, the Ninja Crab) and thoroughly enjoyed both but I especially loved the one that was written by the young lady (Tom, the Ninja Crab) because I got to share it with my granddaughter and great niece.”

“Great poem, I hope he continues to keep up the poetry writing even with the demands of medicine. Excellent and evocative.” (this refers to Oh, Beach that I once Loved by Sethson Burton, 3rd place 18 to 35, winner of books from Best of Books and a copy of Musical Youth, 2nd edition paperback)

Those are the major ones; there were some awesomes and wonderfuls thrown in there. Add yours, or constructive criticism, that’s okay too, just don’t be …unconstructive.

Thanks again to all of you who have supported the 2020 Wadadli Pen Challenge Season, to patrons the Cultural Development Division, the Best of Books bookstore, Photogenesis, Cindy’s Bookstore, the Friends of Antigua Public Library-NY, Barbara Arrindell, Joanne C. Hillhouse, Floree Williams Whyte, Lawrence Jardine, D. Gisele Isaac, Paradise Vision Center, Juneth Webson, the Cushion Club, Brenda Lee Browne, Hermitage Bay Antigua, Dr. Hazra Medica, Caribbean Reads Publishing, Sean Lyons, Jane Seagull, and Frank B. Armstrong/Seven Seas.

 

As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, its Spanish language edition Perdida! , and Oh Gad! ). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page Jhohadli or like me on Facebook. Help me spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.

#WeNeedDiverseBooks Author Re-Writes the Fairytale

That’s the headline of a piece published to Wandering Educators (thanks, Dr. Jessica Voigts) about my last picture book With Grace. It begins…

Once I realized that With Grace was turning out to be a fairytale, I did not resist it…but I did do my best to subvert the tropes of the genre.

Why didn’t I resist, though not strictly speaking a children’s writer (I had only one previous children’s book among five to my credit)? Because as a writer, I enjoy wrestling with genres I’ve never attempted before – even if that cage match is to be within the deceptively simple and straightforward world of ‘once upon a time’ where they ‘all lived happily ever after’. Also, as a long time dreamer and reader, it was joyful to revisit the genre that helped me fall in love with stories in the first place.

So, why subvert? Because for all the ways it helped open up my imaginative pathways, the fairytales of my childhood did their share of inadvertent damage, as well. While every race and culture has its own fairytales, as a black girl coming of age in the Caribbean, in the retellings that were popular in my part of the world, I was never a part of the story nor was anyone who looked like me. Also, unlike the women I saw in real life, the girls in the fairytales were invariably in need of rescuing, usually by a Prince (or the Prince was in some way the pathway to happiness). I’m not going to do a deep dive in to feminist and racial and cultural and problematic in many other ways readings of Western fairytales, but I will say that as With Grace, my own Caribbean faerie tale, revealed itself to me, I wanted to tell a different story. I say revealed because, let me be clear, it was never my intention to be heavy-handed; whatever rebellion was to happen had to happen naturally. My primary goal was to tell a good and engaging children’s story. I hope I’ve done that. But a writer can have secondary goals.

READ the full thing here.

Mailbox – Adda, IC, Grace

Okay, technically, this is from my own mailbox, but reporting on the happenings in the arts is in Antigua and Barbuda, and beyond is part of what I do here on the blog; even if, awkward as it can be, the happening is about my own writing life. So, here’s the text of a recent press release from me. – JCH, site admin & Wadadli Pen founder coordinator

 
Antiguan and Barbudan Joanne C. Hillhouse ‘s fictional writings appear in two new international publications. This follows the December 2016 release of her children’s picture book, the Caribbean fairytale, With Grace.

The publications are Adda, an online platform maintained by the Commonwealth Writers, a United Kingdom based Commonwealth Foundation initiative to create virtual and physical spaces for writers to share and grow; and Interviewing the Caribbean, a periodical put out from the US by Caribbean poet and author Opal Palmer Adisa.

The Adda story, accompanied by the painting ‘Fusion’, a striking new work by acclaimed Antiguan and Barbudan artist Heather Doram, is entitled ‘The Other Daughter’ . CW, in its social media circulation of the new story, described it as “The fight and sacrifice of a mother for her daughter, and the distance this creates between them.”  CW publishes only one new writer every couple of weeks to addastories.org; these have included Forward prize winner Vahni Capildeo, and Commonwealth short story winners and authors Kevin Jared Hosein and Sharon Millar, among other notable writers from the Commonwealth.

Zombie Island, a dystopian, speculative piece proved a good fit for Interviewing the Caribbean 2016’s focus on violence. Other types of violence are explored in Hillhouse’s poems Election Season and The Bamboo Raft which also appear in the issue. Hillhouse is one of several authors and artists interviewed by Adisa in the issue – among them Jamaican poet laureate Mervyn Morris, veteran Grenadian author Merle Collins, Belizean writer and professor Ivory Kelly, and St. Lucian poet and former Bocas winner Kendel Hippolyte.

With Grace, meanwhile, is widely available and continues to generate positive interest from readers who have described it as magical, well-told, and beautifully illustrated. The illustrator is Barbadian artist Cherise Harris.

People are reading…

Thanks for sharing, Dawn. Do you have a picture of you and your little one reading With Grace? Would you like to share it? Send to jhohadli at gmail dot com if you don’t mind me sharing. – signed thankful writer p.s. Don’t forget to post a reader review p.p.s. Thanks to the sites who’ve […]

via People are reading… — jhohadli

With Grace Now Available Online

The Antigua launch of my latest book, With Grace, took place over the holidays.

With family at the launch of With Grace.

Some of you in other places have been asking when you’ll be able to purchase it – well, here you go. It’s now available online.

As a reminder, here’s the story synopsis:

Grace, of Grace s Peak, loves her home above the village, above the whole island. All her trees are lush and full of ripe fruits, except for the one at the far end of her land. She hates that tree. So when the smiling, barefoot girl from the village asks Grace if she can pick fruits to sell at the market, it is from that sad, bare tree that Grace generously allows her to pick. Little does Grace know that the young girl s kind, loving heart and her sweet special song will make the impossible happen, and change life at Grace’s Peak forever.

 

With Grace is a 48 page children’s picture book, a Caribbean fairytale “filled with magic, enchantment, and lots of heart”, about which, Alscess Lewis, who edits the Caribbean Writer literary journal wrote, “With Grace explores a Caribbean space richly woven with magic, mystery, and fantasy – an engaging fable not only for young readers but any reader poised for a new reading experience that twists and turns on a suggestion of allegory.”

Reader response has been very positive so far.

“A lovely children’s book – a real keeper.”

Now that it’s in the international marketplace, I look forward to more reader engagement and reviews, and critics’ perspectives as well. I hope this book makes your young ones as happy as writing it made me.

Remember you can get it online here and, if you want to see it in your local bookstore, encourage them to carry it. Here’s some information you can share:
about-joanne-c-hillhouse
about-joanne-c-hillhouses-other-books
about-the-book
And here’s a link (including publisher links for ordering by your local bookstores and libraries) of all my books: https://jhohadli.wordpress.com/books

As with all content on Wadadli Pen, except otherwise noted, this is written by Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, Fish Outta Water, and With Grace). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out http://jhohadli.wordpress.com Please note that, except otherwise noted, the images also belong to us and ask first if you wish to use them for any purpose. Thanks.

 

Press Release – With Grace, a Caribbean Faerie Tale, Lands Just in Time for Christmas

On Wednesday 21st December 2016, the Best of Books bookstore on St. Mary’s Street hosted the launch of the latest book by Antiguan and Barbudan writer Joanne C. Hillhouse. The book, With Grace, a Caribbean faerie tale, is the sixth book and second children’s picture book by the local writer.

“In With Grace, Joanne has shared a magical story set in familiar Caribbean places,” said Best of Books manager Barbara Arrindell. “I enjoyed reading it to myself and I can’t wait to read it to some of the little people in my life.”

The book, in summary, is the story of Grace who leads a carefree life in Grace’s Peak, looking down on the villagers, until a little girl comes in search of assistance, changing both of their lives forever.

Hillhouse said, at the launch, that she was happy to create a book in which young Caribbean children could see themselves reflected – see someone, a girl and a faerie/fairy who looks like so many of them – as this is rare in the fairytale sub-genre.

Among those who’ve submitted endorsements of the book are Alscess Lewis-Brown, editor of the Caribbean Writer, published by the University of the Virgin Islands, who’s written on the book jacket, “With Grace explores a Caribbean space richly woven with magic, mystery, and fantasy – an engaging fable not only for young readers but any reader poised for a new reading experience that twists and turns on a suggestion of allegory.”

With Grace is published by Little Bell Caribbean and Mario Picayo, publisher and children’s author in his own right, described the book on the jacket as “beautiful, well thought, and meaningful.”

At the launch, excerpts from With Grace were read by Tamare Banis and Anya Hull of the Cushion Club reading club for kids, with which Hillhouse served as a longtime volunteer, and by the author herself. She also fielded questions about the book and her writing career. Absent from the launch but celebrated for the quality of her illustrations in the book was Barbadian artist Cherise Harris.

While the kids were entertained at the launch with colouring sheets, adults had a chance to win as a door prize an earlier Hillhouse book, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings. This prize was claimed by Agnes Meeker.

The formalities were followed by the purchasing and signing of With Grace, now available at the Best of Books and soon to be in other bookshops and markets – regionally and internationally.

The launch event was emceed by Best of Books supervisor Glen Toussaint.

For more pictures from the launch, go here.