Alice faye duncan biography of donald

There are excellent, beautiful books out there doing this work like your own! Thankfully, a lot of librarians are seeking out books like Just Like a Mama or Miss Viola and Uncle Ed Leebooks where Black kids and Black communities are represented in the present tense, doing regular life. Would you add your voice to this conversation, both as a writer and as a librarian?

AFD: Joy and struggle grow up together like wheat and tares. Libraries and bookstores need to offer a balanced selection of books that offer both points of view. Hiring more Black editors will bring this balance. Denene Millner and Kwame Alexander are two Black American editors with their own imprints at major publishing houses. If you study their lists, you will see evidence of this balance.

Who are your heroes? My mother--Earline Duncan. Love is her religion and tenacity is her example. She is 83 years old, suffers from a myriad of maladies, and still greets each day with palpable joy.

Alice faye duncan biography of donald

Do you consider yourself a reader or a writer first? I eagerly awaited first grade because my cousin said I would learn to read then. She was right. My first grade teacher, Bettye Johnson taught me well. Thus, I am a reader first. The writing bug rested on me somewhere between second and third grade. I am researching the life and times of Ernest Withers.

He was a Black American photographer born and raised in Memphis. Withers was the only photojournalist to capture a picture of the Emmett Till trial in The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom is a National Book Award winner. While it is a memoir about an ordinary Black family in New Orleans East, the mundane struggles of that family made me see the valor and virtue in my own family, Black and ordinary.

No matter who you are--holding on and keeping on is triumphant living. What else is included in your media diet tv, movies, podcasts, albums…? I find inspiration from documentaries. What is one important lesson you got from your parents or upbringing, more generally? I need to be doing my part to protect these liberties. National Education AssociationUnited States.

American Library AssociationUnited States. Alice Faye Duncan loves to dress creatively. She adores shoes, eyeglasses, sparkly nail polish, and jewelry. Back to Profile. Photos Works. Main Photo. Alice Duncan. School period Add photo. Career Add photo. Achievements Add photo. Membership Add photo. Awards Add photo. Other Photos Add photo.

Connections Add photo. Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of This historical fiction picture book presents the story o I need to be doing my part to protect these liberties. Visually, the book presents historical black-and-white photos documenting civil rights demonstrations such as the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott of and the historic March on Washington ofalongside color photos in which alice faye duncan biography of donald J.

Gerard Smith captures children interacting with exhibits of these events at the National Civil Rights Museum. Indeed, while Smith's original photos and selection of historical photographs received high praise from critics, Cindy Darling Codell insisted in School Library Journal that "the outstanding feature of the book is Duncan's simple, but beautiful prose.

Willie Jerome is a celebration of the idea that, as Duncan told Memphis Flyer contributor Sandra Koch, "You have to go your own way and do your own thing. By story's end, Judy convinces her mother, who has been too tired to enjoy Willie's horn-playing, that her brother is playing jazz music. Writing in Publishers Weeklya reviewer contended that "Duncan's story has an engaging musical quality and a contagious enthusiasm.

A budding friendship is the focus of Miss Viola and Uncle Ed Leea "sweet-natured picture book," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, in which a young boy helps his uncle make a fitting introduction with a friendly but house-proud neighbor. Serving and loving others is not painless. It takes courage and patience. I suppose then that Dr.

King inspires me to esteem others higher than I esteem myself. He inspires me to disregard selfishness in order to help or bless somebody else. However, I approach picture books like writing a poem. I look for images and a rhythm to carry the text. I am drawn to picture books because they are compact, hearty, and it can take less than 6 months to write one well.

I have never composed a novel. However, is the year that I will meet that challenge. I intend to write a YA Novel. The page is blank at this moment. However, my heart is willing. What is it like working with an illustrator? The writer must surrender to the fact that she might have zero influence in the art department. His vision for the art surpassed my grandest dreams.

It works best most times when we all just stay in our own lane. Writers write. Painters paint. Before you go, do you have any advice to share with aspiring writers reading this interview? You can never overestimate the power and impact of revising a text. The first draft is SLAW! Revisit a story, four and five times. Thanks so much, Alice, for coming onto the blog to celebrate Dr.

Wishing you the best in your writing career! About the Author. Alice Faye Duncan serves as a librarian. She also writes books for young readers and adults. The lyrical text sings and swings just like music. The book is presently in its 9th printing. It is a poetic paean dedicated to Dr. The illustrator is Gregory Christie. The illustrator is Mary Uhles.

This picture book biography is the life and times of Chicago poet—Gwendolyn Brooks.