 Welcome to Poetry Friday. This week Janice at Salt City Verse is doing hosting duties. She's featuring David Elliott's new book, At The Pond. I'm featuring an interview with Irene Latham and Charles Waters about African Town. If you not read it, I recommend you run and get a copy or perhaps you might win a copy here. Leave a comment and I will choose a recipient.  JRM: This is your third collaboration. What have you learned about working together in the past? How was this adventure different or new? IL & CW: Can I Touch Your Hair? taught us to be open and trust one another as writing partners. Dictionary for a Better World taught us to be brave and try new poetry forms. African Town—because it was our first adventure together in YA and in historical fiction—required ALL of that as well as a whole new depth of collaboration, including research, responsibility, and sensitivity for the descendants and their ancestors. Each character we gave a voice was someone’s father, brother, mother, grandparent. Such a humbling experience. JRM: You cover such a large swath of time 1859-1901, how were you able to keep all the research and poems from being too unyielding? IL & CW: We were constantly aware of two things throughout the writing process: 1) we were asking A LOT of the reader by telling the story in 14 voices and 2) we needed to keep the story moving with only the details most pertinent to our book’s message of hope and resilience. We made ourselves stick to our outline. JRM: Was there a section of the book which you wished you could have stayed longer with or one you were thankful when the section was completed? IL & CW: Well, since writing is rewriting, we wish we could have stayed longer on the whole book to make it even better. One (or more) sections we’re thankful to have completed and not work on again include the parts chronicling being in the barracoons in Africa, the Middle Passage, the time in the Alabama swamplands (where the Clotilda survivors were sold as chattel), and the years they lived as enslaved people. JRM: How did you determine who researched and wrote the poems for the fourteen characters? Was there a poem style you tried and realized it wasn’t fitting the character? Did you share any of the characters? Were there characters whose voice and story surprised you? IL & CW: Initially we divvied the voices according to where we each were in the research at the time. We each wrote black and white characters to get a first draft, and then we spent marathon phone conversations revising line by line. The Clotilda poems we wrote together from the get-go. We put a lot of thought into which poetry form for which character at the start, and we stuck with our choices. And yes, there were many surprises along the way! We learned Abilè̩ had a secret—though it took a long time to discover what that secret was! JRM: I’m curious about the process. After the research and poem drafts how did you piece and stitch the story like a quilt? IL & CW: We outlined the entire book at the outset, thinking of it in “scenes.” So we knew for each poem who was speaking, and what critical information needed to be relayed. Of course some things shifted during the writing and revision process, but we had a solid plan based on the actual historical events. JRM: What do you hope readers will take away from reading African Town? IL & CW: So many things! This is rich material. We hope young people in particular recognize that there is no way of going forward in life unless we look back, take stock of the past, and bear witness by reading, watching documentaries, and having conversations about family history. JRM: How had African Town been received by the descendents of Clotilda? IL & CW: So far, there has been gratitude from the descendants for telling this story with respect and care for their ancestors. We’re particularly grateful to Altevese Rosario, descendant of Kossola and Abilè̩, who also wrote the Teacher’s Guide for the book, as well as Joycelyn Davis, a descendant of Oluale and Maggie who wrote our introduction. RM: You have shared several interviews about African Town. I am wondering if there was an unasked question you’d like to share here and answer? Are there any characters you cut or others you wish you could have included? IL & CW: We did cut a character named Free George. He appears in the poems now, but doesn’t have his own voice. As a free black man during the Civil War, his perspective and life was really interesting and inspiring to us. Also, had we known earlier about Matilda McCrear, who was only 2 at the time of the crossing onboard Clotilda, we might have given her a voice as well. But we had already turned in the book at that point and were only able to add her in a single poem. (But at least we were able to do that!) RM: What is next for you both? IL & CW: Our picture book Be A Bridge from Carolrhoda/Lerner Publishing with illustrations from Nabila Adani comes in August of this year. Thank you, Irene and Charles, for taking the time to answer questions about taking Africatown. You can order a signed copy from Alabama Booksmith. I later asked Irene about what is available to visit in and near Africantown and Mobile, AL. She shared that there are quite a few things in the works in Africatown and Mobile to commemorate this history. The Africatown Heritage House opens possibly in May Mobile has a history museum and other attractions, like a battleship to tour, Bellingrath gardens, Fairhope (a cool history all its own) and gorgeous beaches Gulf Shores and Orange Beach very close. I just may have to make a visit.  It's our fourth Friday of the year. Wow! Irene at Live Your Poem has the round up for us this week. I like writing my posts on Thursday and posting early. Yesterday, I was coming up empty and went to bed without a post. This morning gifted me with one as I was making tea  morning moon side smile of wolf pup sings the wind ©2022, jone rush macculloch Calendar WinnersCongrats Mary Lee Hahn and Bridget Magee! Mary Lee, will send out today. Bridget, I need your address.
 Meet Johanna Wright, illustrator of THIS POEM IS A NEST Welcome to Poetry Friday, late edition. I just returned from traveling yesterday plus got up at 3:30 AM to take oldest grand to swim practice, and Buster has needed attention (poor guy caught kennel cough) so I'm just getting to this. Some days are like this, right? Our Poetry Friday is hosted by Jama at Jama’s Alphabet Soup I can't remember when it was that I learned that local artist/illustrator/author, Johanna Wright, was illustrating Irene Latham's book, THIS POEM IS A NEST. I was thrilled as I love Wright's work.  How did you decide which nestling poems would get an illustration? It was tough to decide what poems to illustrate! There are so many in this book that called out to me. The editors gave me a lot of freedom to pick what I was inspired to work with. So I made a list of those that called out to me the most and we went from there. Some of the poems I had ideas for right away, and others I played with lots of ideas before settling. It was a really unique and fun book to illustrate! I love the illustration for “Black”, can you share a bit about that? “Black” was one of the illustration ideas that came to me right away. I love to put a bit of magic into my artwork, and it was fun to interpret that poem in that way. In general I tried to apply nature and magic themes throughout the book. It gave me a bit of a framework and helped me feel less overwhelmed with illustration options! I notice a lot of magic depicted and at work work in your illustrations. It seems that it’s a constant theme for you no matter where your art leads. Would you talk about that a little bit? Oh I love that you’ve noticed that and, yes! Magic is a big theme in my life and work. I love to include it as much as possible. Seeing life through a lens of magic makes everything a bit more bearable and fun and full of possibility.  Illustration for the poem, "Hidden Treasure Story"  Illustration for the poem, "Herd of Alpaca in the Rain" I know that often the author and illustrator don’t get to talk about the book. Were you and Irene able to chat about ideas and concepts? Irene and I didn’t chat directly during the making of the book, but our fabulous editor Rebecca Davis did a great job of communicating our thoughts to each other. When the book was done Irene and I did have some exchanges that were really fun! I love her work and felt so lucky to be a part of this book project. GIVE AWAY~ WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK Comment and I will select a winner and announce it next week.What are your current projects? What would you consider your signature style? Right now I’m working on illustrating and writing a deck of oracle cards and developing a new, illustrated, guided journal. I’ve really enjoyed combining my interests in healing energy and intuition with illustration these past few years. It’s taken me a long time to feel brave enough to share that work, but I feel like people are more receptive than ever to self healing and creative tools, so it feels like a good time for it! My signature style...I love to have my characters a bit sketchy and free. When I'm working in full color you'll usually find a layered painted background. I've been working with a darker palette the last few years, with brightly colored characters layered on top.
What would you like to share that I haven’t ask? I just really loved working on this special book and I’m excited for kiddos to dive in and make their own poems based on this concept! Johanna Wright has illustrated and written several books. My grands and friend's children have been gifted her books. I love her art work, the richness of the colors and the magical quality. Bunnies on Ice by Johanna Wright The Best Bike Ride Ever (by James Proimos) The Orchestra Pit by Johanna Wright Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage by Kaye Umansky Clover Twig and the Perilous Path by Kaye Umansky Celie Valentine Friendship Over by Julie Sternberg Celie Valentine Secret’s Out by Julie Sternberg Celie Valentine Everything’s Changed by Julie Sternberg Keep a Pocket in Your Poem The Magic of Mindset by Johanna Wright This Poem is a Nest by Irene Latham Thanks for stopping in, Johanna and sharing with us about THIS POEM IS A NEST. |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
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