Yvette R. Murray is an award-winning poet and author of the picture book Celebrate We Gullah Geechee (Free Spirit Publishing) and the poetry collection Hush, Puppy (Finishing Line Press). She has been published in Chestnut Review, Emrys Journal, Litmosphere, A Gathering Together, and others. She is the 2022 Susan Laughter Meyers Poetry Fellow, a 2021 Best New Poet selection, a Watering Hole Fellow, and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She is also a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Yvette lives in Charleston, South Carolina. Tonya Engel is a self-taught artist and illustrator heavily influenced by folk artists of the Deep South and Harlem Renaissance pioneers, as well as Mark Chagall, Frida Kahlo, and Romare Beardon. Tonya's illustrations speak to image, identity, and relationships. Meshing decorative elements, oils, and occasional collage with emotional content, she portrays women with contemplative faces, implying a dream world that invites our interpretations. She has been the recipient of several awards and honors for her art and book illustrations, including a three-month residency in Paris, France, a Septima Clark Book Award for Rise!, a 2022 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book Award for Your Legacy, and more. Tonya resides in Houston, Texas.
Description
"This picture book honors the history and the present of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor . . . the acrylic and oil illustrations capture the vibrant colors and energy of a thriving culture and people-and might just whet your appetite, too." * Foreword Reviews * "In Celebrate We Gullah Geechee, author Yvette R. Murray deftly weaves the sights, sounds, and sayings of the people who reside along the Gullah Geechee Corridor. Her ability to voice the beauty and uniqueness of place and people based on her own lived experience as a member of this vibrant strand of the African Diaspora brings an unparalleled intensity that sings throughout the book. Nestled in a vibrant landscape illustrated by Tonya Engel, the words, food, smells, and deep familiarity with nature come alive as children chant, from page to page, their love of the environment that has cloistered and nurtured, a land that sows Africa into the soil to preserve its seed. Murray's book is a reaching out and a pulling in, indeed, it is an invitation to celebrate the wonder of Gullah Geechee through the eyes of the purest observers among us-the children!" -- Regina YC Garcia, author of Whispers from the Multiverse and The Firetalker's Daughter "There was a time when children of the Gullah Geechee culture were mocked and ridiculed as 'backward' and 'countrified,' and made to feel ashamed of their heritage by mainstream?society. That attitude has changed in recent times, and many people today understand Gullah Geechee as a unique blend of African and American traditions. Yvette M. Murray's text and Tonya Engel's illustrations assist in making Celebrate We Gullah Geechee a part of this understanding." -- Damon L. Fordham, MA, author and adjunct professor of history at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina