African Diaspora at Internet Archive: The Great Snakeskin

After spending yesterday and the day before with the remarkable writer and poet John Agard, I wanted to feature three more of his books today. The first one is a folktale retold in the form of a play: The Great Snakeskin.

The lovely illustrations are by Jill Newton, who was born in Australia and is now based in the U.K. (more at her website):

As Agard explains at the opening of the book, he got the idea for this story from an indigenous legend of the people of Guyana who lived there before the Europeans came, bringing enslaved Africans with them. There has always been a powerful back-and-forth between African and indigenous storytelling traditions throughout the Americas and the Caribbean; I'll have something more to say about that next week with a book about the trickster rabbit stories of African Americans and the native peoples of the southeastern United States. Meanwhile, if you are curious about Agard's source, here it is: W. H. Brett's The Indian Tribes of Guiana, published in 1852.

The next is an AMAZING anthology of Caribbean poetry, with poems about the wind, the sea, the people, and the animals of the Caribbean, co-edited by John Agard and his partner, the poet Grace Nichols: Under the Moon and Over the Sea.

You will find that it is full of folkloric and mythological themes, like this poem about Mama-Wata by Grace Nichols:

And here's Vyanne Samuels writing on Obeah power:

And Charles Faustin with a poem about jumbies:

Those gorgeous illustrations are by Christopher Corr, an artist based in London (more at his website).

Finally, I also wanted to share one final book: it is not a book of folktales or legends, but is instead a book about books. Book's own autobiography! And it's brilliant! My Name Is Book.

The delightful illustrations are by Neil Packer, a British illustrator (more at his website). Here's his illustration for the part of the book about books-as-volumes, rolled up and then unrolled for reading:

This book is recent enough that ebooks are part of the picture too: books have been animal (sheepskin vellum), vegetable (papyrus), and mineral (stone and clay)... and now: digital!

So, if you have not encountered the mind-bending and joyful delight of John Agard and of Grace Nichols also, jump in! The Internet Archive has all these books just waiting for you, only a click away.

Meanwhile, I'll be off for the next week (moving! argh!)... but I hope to be back in action a week from now on Wednesday. See you then!

The Great Snakeskin

by John Agard

Under the Moon and Over the Sea

by John Agard and Grace Nichols

My Name Is Book

by John Agard

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Great Tug-o-War

As promised, some more from Guyanese author John Agard today! (See yesterday's post for his Caribbean proverbs and Calypso Alphabet.) To start things off, here is his version of a famous African and Diaspora trickster tale: Brer Rabbit: The Great Tug-o-War.

Of course there are no rhinos or hippos in Guyana, but the tug-of-war story has lived on through the African traditions at the heart of African Diaspora storytelling.

The illustrations are by Korky Paul, a children's book illustrator born in Zimbabwe and now based in the U.K. (More at his website.) He makes great use of two-page spreads to convey the back-and-forth of the tricky tug of war:

I also wanted to mention this lovely book of nursery rhyme poetry by Agard and his partner, Grace Nichols (more about her work at Wikipedia), who is also from Guyana: No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock: A Collection of Caribbean Nursery Rhymes.

The illustrations are by Penny Dann, and you can see from this image that there is a mix of traditional Caribbean rhymes and new rhymes by Agard and Nichols in the book; on this two-page spread Jawbone on the Wall is a traditional rhyme, while Cow Chat is a new one from Agard.

Plus here's another fun one from Agard: The Emperor's Dan-Dan.

This is a retelling of the famous story of the emperor's new clothes... but Caribbean-style, with ANANSI as a character: the emperor's tailor is none other than Anansi Spiderman! The illustrations are by Alison Forsythe; look closely and you'll see the spider legs behind Anansi's back:

Isn't that all look great? And I'll be back with yet more from John Agard tomorrow too!

Brer Rabbit: The Great Tug-o-War

by John Agard

No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock:

A Collection of Caribbean Nursery Rhymes

by John Agard and Grace Nichols

The Emperor's Dan-Dan

by John Agard

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Say It Again, Granny!

It's back to the Caribbean this week, starting off with the remarkable John Agard: he's an Afro-Guyanese writer and poet now based in the U.K.; you can read about his life and career at Wikipedia.

The book I want to start with is this beautiful collection of children's poetry inspired by Caribbean proverbs: Say It Again, Granny! 

The lovely illustrations are by Susanna Gretz, an American children's book illustrator; here are two poems (click on the images for a larger view): Don't Call Alligator Long-Mouth Till You Cross River and Early Bird Does Catch the Fattest Worm:

I really like the idea of using proverbs as an inspiration for writing poetry! 

I also wanted to say something about this fun book by Agard: The Calypso Alphabet.

The illustrations here are by Jennifer Bent, and of course A has to be for Anansi!

And if you're not sure where Guyana is, here's a map to help out, and youc an find out more about Guyana (formerly British Guiana) at Wikipedia.

I'll be back with more from John Agard tomorrow! Meanwhile, these books both await you, just a click away at the Internet Archive:

Say It Again, Granny! 

by John Agard

The Calypso Alphabet

by John Agard