We are in the last stage of culminating this semester's activities. The final activity the Library Committee is to conduct two surveys related to the resources available at the library and theservices provided by the library. Professors of the English Department will receive a questionnaire which has a list of the most recent resources obtained by the UPRH Library. Many of these books were purchased during Dr. Larry Myer's work as the chair of this committee. We wish to know if the resources are used in our English courses as well if some of these resources can be included in your courses.
We will also be communicating with the English BA Faculty for the support in conducting the English BA students' survey. This will be the second year conducting this survey with a revised instrument. We wish to know if students are using the services provided by the library and how satisfied are they with the services received.
So thank you English faculty of UPRH for your support in the activities that the Library Committee has organized.
Prof. Luz I. Vega and faculty members of the English Department
Prof. Luz I. Vega gave a conference titled "La Identidad de Shakespeare: Mitos y Realidades" at the 26th Shakespeare Festival. This conference was on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at the University of Puerto Rico Humacao. This conference is one of several activities organized by the Shakespeare's Festival Committee of the English Department to celebrate the legacy of the playwright William Shakespeare. Prof. Elizabeth J. Hodges chairs this year's Shakespeare's Festival Committee.
Prof. Vega offered an interesting and very informative conference about the debate that scholars have concerning William Shakespeare's identity. While many scholars firmly believe William Shakespeare was the person who wrote the universal classics like Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello just to name a few of all his literary work, others challenge this stating that William Shakespeare was not the author of these literary jewels that still today are enjoyed.
Students including former student Giovanni Rodriguez, as well as faculty members from UPRH attended this activity which received very positive reviews. The audience participated at the end of the conference asking questions related to Shakespeare's identity.
Next week the play "All the World's a Stage" will be presented in the UPRH theater on Tuesday, April 24 and Thursday, April 26 at 6:30.
Diane Browne is a Jamaican writer who has written
children’s and young adult books and novels from a Caribbean perspective. Her most recent novel Island Princess in
Brooklyn deals with the reality of migration
and separation that many children in the Caribbean face as their parents move
to the United States in search for a better future for their family. These children, known in Jamaica as barrel
children, face the effects of migration and the adaptation of a new life
outside of their Caribbean homeland, when their parents send for them to live
the American dream.
“The Owl’s
Bookshelf” had the honor to interview Diane Brown and learn more about her
literary work.
1.When
did you begin writing children’s and young adult books and novels?
I began writing children’s books some 30
years ago. These books were mainly for the 12 and under age group. Then about
10 years ago I decided to write a novel about Time Travel. This was something
that I had wanted to do for some time. So the two novels in my Time Travel
Series and Island Princess in Brooklyn are for an older age group, the Young
Adult group.
2.Can
you share the titles of the books you have published up to the moment?
I have written a number of books. I
started writing supplementary reading material for the Ministry of Education
for children in government primary schools (what are called elementary schools
in the USA) and so I probably wrote about 30 books or stories for this series,
the “Doctor Bird Reading Series”. This was in the early 1980’s, and this
project was very important as many of these children would have had no other
story books besides these. The books I’ve written since are: Gammon and the Woman’s Tongue Trees,
Debonair the Donkey, Cordelia Finds Fame and Fortune, about 6
stories/books in the “Get Caught Reading Series” (published in the UK, all of
them having the background of cricket – done for World Cup Cricket); Every Little
Thing Will Be All Right (a collection of stories); the YA novels, A Tumbling World …A Time of Fire, The
Ring and the Roaring Water (both in my Time Travel series) and Island
Princess in Brooklyn which came out last year.
3.What
themes do you present in your literary work?
Love of family; importance of friendship; love of country;
the importance of always to keep on
trying to achieve things/success; being true to oneself and respect for self;
bravery and courage, especially in the little things that children face, like
teasing, which adults do not always realize can be devastating in a child’s life; preservation of
our culture (often interwoven into other themes so it is not overt); growing
through one’s experiences, hope, migration. When I write I don’t set out to
focus on a particular theme. The story comes to me, the main character comes to
me, and then the themes are interwoven into the story.
4.Who
has been your inspiration in your writing career?
Different people in different ways. The
late Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverley, our famous folklorist, who wrote and
performed in Creole or patois, which showed all of us that our ‘home language’
was an important mode of communication; consequently, by extension, whatever we
had to say was important. In the area of children’s literature, Judy Blume: her
book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret introduced me to the concept
of the modern child, the character with a well formed personality, quite
different from the Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins with whom I’d grown up, and
which had their place, but Judy Blume’s character was a real person. I was also
inspired by Philippa Pearce: Tom’s Midnight Garden enchanted me. Again,
it was different from the fantasy of the fairy tales and folktales of
childhood. It was fantasy that you wanted to be a part of. The late Peggy
Campbell, with whom I wrote on the Doctor Bird Reading Series also inspired me.
She had been writing before I started writing
seriously, and working with her was delightful and instructive.
5.How
do you see the field of children and young adult literature in the
Caribbean? Does it receive support from
educational institutions and the public in general?
Many studies state the importance of
children reading the children’s
literature of their own country. However the support for indigenous
children’s literature continues to be challenging. From time to time, throughout the Caribbean, there
have been projects (by governments, international agencies and sometimes
private institutions) which support the writing and development of children’s’
literature and it’s procurement, but it seems as if in each case, there is the
excitement of this activity, but the activity itself cannot be sustained. I,
myself, have been involved as a writer, trainer or publishing manager in some
of these initiatives over time.
I do not think that indigenous
children’s literature gets the encouragement from the educational institutions
and the public in general which the books deserve, which the children deserve
and which our countries need. Books are not bought in quantities which would
make publishing of children’s books viable . We realize that in many of our
countries there is not the disposable income to buy children’s material. Economies
of scale also affect us; books from developed countries (large print runs) are
much cheaper than those produced in the region so are the ones most easily
purchased. However, I sometimes wonder if the socialization during colonialism,
which has been replaced by American influence in media, has not produced
peoples whose reading interests continue to be ‘outside of ourselves’. If so,
it would be a great pity if our educational institutions, from Early Childhood/Primary
to Tertiary, where children’s literature is a part of the curriculum or is taught,
do not understand the importance of using more of our own children’s
literature.
However, there are two things which give
me hope. 1) There is a new crop of young writers who are very talented and
passionate about their writing, who are bringing new energy to this genre. 2)
Modern technology and communications have made us more aware of what is
happening in the various Caribbean countries, who the writers are, what they
are doing, so hopefully we will be able to support each other.
6.What
inspired you to write Island Princess in Brooklyn?
A few years ago, my older daughter and
her husband, who is a surgeon, moved from Barbados for a time so that he could do
a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at a hospital in Brooklyn. They lived in
an apartment close to the hospital. I went to Brooklyn for the birth of each of
their two children, and I was thrown into the middle of the migrant experience,
and I loved it; different ethnic groups all there working for the American
dream; helping one another, all the members of the extended families playing
their part, the grandmothers sitting outside watching grandchildren at play. I
saw their lives, our lives, all of us in the world trying to make our way.
My father’s family migrated to the States
in the 1930’s but by the time I began to visit them they were well established
in Jamaica (Queens), Long Island, so although that was my first exposure to the
migrant experience, it was the Brooklyn experience that brought my character, Princess,
to Brooklyn.
7.Who is the character you felt more
related to as you wrote your novel Island Princess in Brooklyn? Princess, although she is
not me. She is braver, and also more stubborn, but I really got to like her a
lot by the end of the story. I think I might have liked to be her friend if I
could step into the book.
8.How
have young adult readers responded to your novel?
There has been a wonderful response from
young readers. It gives me hope that this book might make a difference in how
our young people relate to our literature, seeing it as something they would
like to read rather than a literature book prescribed by the school. There is
actually a demand for it in bookshops. What is quite surprising is the adult
response to it, both here and from other parts of the world. Many adults have
told me how much they liked it, how it engaged their emotions, how it was a part
of their life experience. I think this is because migration is part of the
fabric of our life in the Caribbean. I know that in any group of Jamaicans, if
you asked if anyone has a family member/friend in America, Canada or the UK,
everybody would reply in the affirmative.
9.What
future projects do you plan to develop for the enjoyment of children and young
adult readers?
I have the first draft of a children’s
picture story book, fantasy; I feel my characters from my Time Travel series
calling to me almost daily. There are always stories waiting to be written.
10.What recognitions and awards have your
literary work received?
I have received gold medals for stories
from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, the local body which has
annual cultural competitions. Two of my books received awards for best
children’s book from the Book Industry Association of Jamaica. I received a Bronze
Musgrave Medal in 2004 for Children’s Literature from the prestigious Institute
of Jamaica. In 2011, I won the special award for a children’s story from the
Commonwealth Foundation (representing all the countries which were once
British). Although the recognition of my own people is essential, I also feel
very blessed for the recognition from the much wider group making up the
Commonwealth.
11.How do you define yourself as a writer?
I am essentially a writer of
children’s literature (although I have written adult material and had some
published). I recognize that along with two other writers, I was part of the
largest initiative by the government in association with international agencies
(the Doctor Bird Reading Series) to bring our stories and books to our
children. When we, the writers, first went into schools in the 1980’s our children
believed that all writers were foreigners or dead. We changed that. I run into
adults all the time who remember with delight reading those books and I am so grateful
to have been part of that initiative. I think of myself also as giving our
children a voice, of being a writer who celebrates the lives of our children,
who celebrates our Jamaican and Caribbean lives, because we ourselves are a
celebration of a new people descended from all the people’s who came to this
region and can now tell our own stories.
“The Owl’s
Bookshelf” wants to thank Diane Browne for taking the time and sharing her
experience as a Caribbean writer for children and young adults. Ms. Browne’s literary work is one that should
be known not only in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean but in its diaspora.
Andersen wrote many of the stories that still today are enjoyed by children and adults. He wrote "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling" "Thumbelina" and "The Snow Queen". There are many sites that have Andersen's stories available for your enjoyment such as Andersen's Fairy Tales by Planet PDF
Enjoy this day sharing books with your children and loved ones. During this week, we will share more about Andersen and his contribution to children's literature.
