Children's Author to Receive Honourable Mention at Awards in Washington, D.C.

By Neil Armstrong

Nadia L. Hohn, author, musician and educator.        Photo contributed

Toronto author, musician and educator, Nadia L. Hohn, is excited that her first picture book, “Malaika’s Costume,” will receive an honourable mention at the 2017 Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature organized by the Centre for Latin American Studies.

She will be flying to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. for the ceremony which will be held on Sept. 22, during Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The book, written by Hohn and illustrated by Irene Luxbacher, an artist and author, won the Helen Isobel Sissons Canadian Children’s Story Award in 2016.

“In Nadia Hohn’s touching and timely picture book, we are introduced to Malaika, a young girl living at home with her Grandma in the Caribbean while her mother is working far away in icebox-like Canada to provide a better life for her family. Told in distinctive Caribbean patois, Malaika’s voice genuinely rings out to the reader, as she describes both her excitement about the upcoming Carnival celebrations, and her feelings of sadness and disappointment in missing her mother on this special holiday,” note the organizers.

“Accompanied by colorful collage-style illustrations by Irene Luxbacher that bring Malaika’s island home alive, the reader is introduced to the costumes and characters of Carnival. There are also numerous significant visual details to catch a young reader’s eye, such as drawings presumably from Malaika herself that provide a window into her emotional state throughout the story. Moreover, Luxbacher does a magnificent job of displaying tender emotion in the expressions of Malaika and her Grandma, adding an even deeper richness to the story.”

Heaping praise on the book, they note that: “We watch Malaika, with her Grandma’s support, transform an old dusty costume into a bright and beautiful peacock costume. In the process, we witness her emerge as a “shiny and proud and strong” version of herself in the Carnival parade. Hohn demonstrates a deft, expert touch in handling challenging topics such as family separation and immigration in a way that speaks sincerely to young readers while presenting a tale of vibrant strength, ingenuity and spirit. (Grades K-3).”

Hohn, who was born in Toronto of Jamaican parentage, wrote the book in 2010, and in 2014 was inspired to do a sequel, “Malaika’s Winter Carnival,” when she asked the question: “What if this happened?” 

She thought of placing Malaika in Quebec because she spent time there studying French and working there.

“How do you take this very sunny, warm, girl who loves carnival, island girl, and drop her in the middle of this winter wonderland and how does she fare. That’s basically what happens to a lot of immigrants, especially from the Caribbean.”

She is hoping that young readers will see a child, like themselves, and identify her resilience and resourcefulness in themselves, see the value of family, and that “despite the distances, families can still remain intact and loving.”

“Malaika is a very funny character in the sense that she just calls it as she sees it and she’s feisty. She’s got that little edge to her, but she’s also resourceful, smart and creative.”

Hohn is also the author of “Music” and “Media Studies,” part of the Sankofa series, which won the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Multicultural Non-Fiction. 

She’s working on a biography about Harriet Tubman and trying to adapt the Malaika books to a play, among other things.

“I actually just made a list today because the thing is I always have lots of ideas. I jot down the ideas and it maybe years before I come back to them or I start writing them because I’m doing other things. I’m teaching and what not, I don’t always get to finish them off the bat.”

Hohn is also working on a biography of Louise Bennett Coverley and was hoping to have been in Jamaica during the summer for research.

Her plans changed when her brother died, however, she hopes to go in early 2018.

“I think I’m much closer with the picture book manuscript. I’ve written many, many, versions of it but I feel like it’s heading down the right path. So that’s the first one. As I was doing all my research, I said there’s a second book here so that one will be more of a non-fiction biography. I don't know if it’s going to be a novel, I don’t know what form it will take but it will be for an older audience.” 

Her deadline to have the book out is during 2019 – the 100^th anniversary of Miss Lou’s birthday.
She also has two novels in the works and also plans to do a memoir based on her travels.

Last year, she taught music in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Hohn was to go to Vietnam to teach but reconsidered after reflecting on a number of things that have happened in her life over the last few years. She decided to refocus and to do some personal things here.

Hohn taught French, music and the arts at the Africentric Alternative School but during this school year will be supply teaching and hopes to do schools and libraries visits.

Over the past year, including during layovers, Hohn has travelled to France, Italy, England, Egypt, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Barbados, Trinidad, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

While growing up the only book she recalled seeing where a child looked like her in the contemporary Toronto was “Harriet’s Daughter,” written by Marlene Nourbese Phillip and published in 1988.

 “I started reading probably before I really should have been reading Alice Walker. I was reading Alice Walker in elementary school; in grade 7, those African American writers – Walter Dean Myers, Rosa Guy and Rita Williams-Garcia. I was just so hungry for black stories, African American stories, stories of people who look like me.”

Hohn started making picture books when she was a child, always making characters that look like her.

As she got older she started writing for her school’s newspaper and also kept a journal over those years. 

“It wasn’t until years later, in my 30s, just before the Africentric school opened I had this book idea. Its changed shape so many times but the main character was a black Rastafarian boy and I worked on that story for years. It’s changed so many ways but at the start of a brand new school and wanting to have my classroom reflect my kids -- the students I’d be teaching -- I went on a hunt for black books at A Different Booklist, Knowledge Bookstore, the local bookstores, and then I went to the US and I bought a lot of books there too.”

Hohn said she realized that there weren’t many books that mention Canada. 

“We’re here. I realized I’ve always had this love for black culture and black stories. Even when I was doing “Iced in Black,” this film festival in 2000 to 2003, I realized I just showed films because they were so important to legitimize and to say yes, this is our stuff -- this is us. It’s not American; it’s us. It’s born right here so I realize now I want to be – I am -- one of those pioneers. I want to be present for our kids who need to see authors that look like them. We are not far and removed from their reality,” she said.

[A shorter version of this story has been published in the Weekly Gleaner, Sept. 14-20, 2017 issue.]