Feb 21 2023 | 10:30 a.m.
Virtual Author Reading & Interactive Session for Children Grades K-2
Free Admission | Registration is required, Town of East Gwillimbury schools only
Join us for a virtual reading and interactive presentation for children, by celebrated Author, Shauntay Grant, featuring her book, Africville, illustrated by Eva Campbell. Also available at Iris Malcolm Library. To learn more about the Iris Malcolm Library visit NACCA.
Africville by Shauntay Grant
Winner of the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration Finalist for a Governor General’s Literary Award, Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books Finalist for a Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Books Award.
When a young girl visits the site of Africville, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the stories she’s heard from her family come to mind. She imagines what the community was once like — the brightly painted houses nestled into the hillside, the field where boys played football, the pond where all the kids went rafting, the bountiful fishing, the huge bonfires. Coming out of her reverie, she visits the present-day park and the sundial where her great- grandmother’s name is carved in stone, and celebrates a summer day at the annual Africville Reunion/Festival.
Africville was a vibrant Black community for more than 150 years. But even though its residents paid municipal taxes, they lived without running water, sewers, paved roads and police, fire-truck and ambulance services. Over time, the city located a slaughterhouse, a hospital for infectious disease, and even the city garbage dump nearby. In the 1960s, city officials decided to demolish the community, moving people out in city dump trucks and relocating them in public housing. Today, Africville has been replaced by a park, where former residents and their families gather each summer to remember their community.
About the author
Shauntay Grant is an author, poet, playwright, and multimedia artist. Her love of literature stretches back to her storytelling roots in Nova Scotia's historic Black communities. A multidisciplinary artist with professional degrees in creative writing, music, and journalism, she “creates artworks that are engaging and accessible, but also challenging, rigorous, and informed by deep research (The Royal Society of Canada).” Her honours include a Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Writing and Publishing from the Canada Council for the Arts, a Poet of Honour prize from the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, a Robert Merritt Award for her stage play The Bridge, and a Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award for her picture book Africville with illustrator Eva Campbell. Africville was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards.
Shauntay Grant is an associate professor of creative writing at Dalhousie University, and a member of The Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. She shares her blend of words and music internationally at festivals and events, and collaborates with visual artists and art galleries to create poetry-themed artworks, installations, and exhibitions. A former poet laureate for the City of Halifax, she is the author of the acclaimed picture book title My Fade Is Fresh (Penguin Random House, 2022) as well as Sandy Toes: A Summer Adventure which will be published by Abrams Appleseed in spring 2023.
