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 Browne and learn more about her
literary work.
1.
When
did you begin writing children’s and young adult books and novels?
Reply: 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?
Reply:
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?
Reply:
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?
Reply:
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?
Reply:
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 realise 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 Sates
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?
Reply:
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?
Reply:
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?
Reply: 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?
Reply: 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?
Reply:
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.
Diane Browne
has a blog that you can visit at__. Her novel Island Princess in Brooklyn can be purchased from Carlong Publishers
(Caribbean) Ltd. .
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