In celebration of #BlackHistoryMonth, I'm featuring a BIPOC writer for every day of February. And as a special treat for subscribers to my newsletter, every week one lucky winner will win a copy of a book from each of that week's seven featured writers. Winners will be announced right here on the blog, starting this Saturday night.
Not a subscriber yet? Scroll to the bottom of this page, and sign up!
In case you missed it, yesterday's feature writer is the fabulous Beverly Jenkins, and you can read all about her here.
Okay, time to meet Jael!
Everyone in the Canadian publishing industry knows Jael Richardson as the absolute dynamo who is founder and Artistic Director of The FOLD [Canada's first Festival of Literary Diversity], out of Brampton, Ontario. Since the first event in 2016, Jael has steered The FOLD to become a leading light shining on BIPOC writers from Canada and beyond. Jael also appears regularly on CBC radio, promoting books for children on 'q', and is, of course, an author herself. Her first book is a memoir called, THE STONE THROWER: A Daughter's Lessons, A Father's life. This story was later adapted into the children's book THE STONE THROWER, in 2016. And in spite of her crazy workload, Jael has managed to release a new book into the wild, just this past week.
GUTTER CHILD is quite a departure from her earlier work, in that it is a coming-of-age story set in a dystopian future. In the story, Elimina Dubois is one of only a hundred babies taken from 'the Gutter' to be raised in the land of opportunity, as part of a social experiment. When the experiment goes wrong, Elimina has to find a way to forge her own future against a system that wants her to fail.
I'm so excited to read this futuristic parable -- and you can have a chance to read it too!
This Saturday, I'll be doing the first of four draws this month, and books by both featured authors Beverly Jenkins and Jael Richardson -- along with five others! -- will be up for grabs for a lucky newsletter subscriber. Make sure you're signed up at kcdyer.com and watch here for new featured writers every day this week.
More soon...
~kc