Here Wee Read

Carina Ho is dancer and musician who performs under the moniker ONIKHO. Having trained in dance and music since childhood, Carina joined AXIS Dance Company, a physically integrated dance company that casts dancers with and without disabilities, shortly after sustaining a spinal cord injury. Over the next two years she toured the United States with them until she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, for which she relocated to Montevideo, Uruguay to teach at the national dance conservatory El SODRE. During this time, Carina also began developing her music project, which melds her influences of classical, blues, and electronic music. Today she primarily tours as a musical artist, often collaborating with other disabled artists to promote the visibility of diverse bodies in the arts.Her book, Mighty Mara introduces readers to a little girl named Mara who aspires to dance despite her disability

Victoria Scott-Miller is an award-winning Raleigh-based entrepreneur, documentarian, author, creator of "The Museum Lives in Me” book series, and owner of North Carolina’s first black-owned children’s bookstore, Liberation Station. She was inducted as the youngest and first African American woman into the Wake County Public School Hall of Fame in the category of Entrepreneurship.Victoria was commissioned by the North Carolina Museum of Art to serve as author and creative director for her debut series, “The Museum Lives in Me.” She was the first African American to have such a commission in the museum’s history. Her children’s book is now in every public elementary school and N.C. Cardinal library in the state. Following its success, she signed a multi-global book deal to expand her series to museums across the country with Paw Prints Publishing. Victoria currently lives in Raleigh, N.C. with her husband, Duane Miller, and two sons, Langston and Emerson.

Lynn's picture book, My Code Word: For When I'm Scared or Afraid, is a great recommendation to read during Mental Health Awareness Month or anytime of the year. It's a story about a young boy who acutely sees what's going on in the world and internalizes the negative things to a point where he begins to fear for his future. When everything seems most hopeless, his mother comes up with a clever solution to not only allay his fears, but teach the resilience needed to be a change agent and tackle the world head on. My Code Word is based on her own fears and emotions growing up and then as a mother of two young boys of color.Lynn's novella The Color of My Words won an Américas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature and a Jane Addams Children's Book Award. Some of her other books include: Coconut Kind of Day: Island Poems, featuring 13 poems narrated by a child describing her life in Trinidad, and An Island Christmas, describing a Trinidad Christmas from the child narrator's perspective.Lynn is a lawyer and an award-winning author. Originally of Trinidad and Tobago, she has been based in the U.S. for her adult life and now splits her time between New York and Bermuda.

Jesse Byrd is an international award-winning children’s book author and the youngest NPR Board member. At 6’8”, Jesse pivoted from playing basketball at UCSB to pursue his passion for storytelling. After working at Google in Silicon Valley and later EY in Dubai as Director of Communications for Middle East and North Africa, Jesse turned all of his energy toward his deepest love: making stories for youth and families with a focus on supporting diverse creators and own voices material. He’s currently written six children’s books and helped produce over 40 others as an editor, art director, and publishing consultant. Jesse is based in Los Angeles, CA.His book, The Switch, introduces readers to a boy name Kibwe. Kibwe is the best basketball player on his second-grade team. But the success is starting to get to his head-- he’s becoming bigheaded and sort of bossy! Seeing this, Kibwe’s dad decides to do something drastic to help humble his son and teach him some lessons that’ll work on (and off) the court.

Rev Valdez is a Filipino-American illustrator based in Brentwood, CA. He’s passionate about introducing readers to the myths of Filipino culture through fun, funny and visual storytelling.In this episode we discuss his book, Bunso Meets a Mumu, advice for aspiring writers, his career as a Kindergarten teacher, and more.A Mumu, is the Filipino version of the Boogeyman, who likes to punish kids who misbehave by sucking the fun out of everything! The Mumu will not let Bunso draw (on the walls), eat ice cream (before dinner), or play video games (his older brother’s). But Bunso has had enough! Gearing up to fight back against this destroyer of fun, Bunso makes surprising discoveries about the Mumu (and himself) in this fun, comic-like illustrated picture book that introduces children to Filipino culture and words.

To kick off Screen Free Week, listen as author Britt Gondolfi and illustrator Amanda Romanick discuss their picture bookFontaine the Pigeon Starts a Revolution and the impacts that screens are having on children and families.Britt Gondolfi grew up in the elder millennial era. She reminisces about having a screen-free childhood, minus a little Nintendo, TV, and slow dial-up desktop, but no smartphones. Concerned over how her cell phone took her attention away from her child, she wrote Look Up! Fontaine the Pigeon Starts a Revolution as an urban legend joke for her daughter. Now, if she ever gets too caught up in her cell phone, her six-year-old will politely remind her, “Mom, you better put that away before a bird poops on you! She works as a Rights of Nature policy advocate for the Bioneers organization and is a recent graduate of Loyola University College of Law. As a former teacher and lover of literature, typewriters, and poetry, she hopes this book will inspire people to look at their relationship with technology and take more time to look up.Amanda Romanick is a multi-disciplinary artist whose passion and education for craft began at the young age of 5-years-old when she was hand-selected for the Talented Arts Program in her hometown parish and she began to focus heavily on creative education and outlets, like drawing and painting. Eventually, she graduated with honors from the Savannah College of Art and Design, with a concentration in illustration and sequential art. Amanda is also a mom of a young child and felt the need to do her to create more balance between natural engagement and screen use. Britt and Amanda are good friends and creative partners, and enjoy playdates with their kiddos in New Orleans, where they are both based.

Step into the world of literature and publishing with author, President, & CEO of Baker & Taylor Amandeep S. Kochar, the creative force behind the Jeet and Fudge early readers series.In this episode, Amandeep shares his personal journey as an author and some insights into running Baker & Taylor publishing company. From discussing the inspiration behind his books to offering invaluable advice for aspiring writers, this conversation is an exploration of the art of storytelling and the pathways to realizing your dreams in the world of literature.Listen to Amandeep’s wisdom and passion driving his remarkable success and discover how you too can embark on your own writing journey.

Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his 2022 graphic novel Victory Stand!: Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the 2023 YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers.In 2020, he became the only author to have won the Kirkus Prize twice for his twelfth release, the New York Times bestseller I Am Every Good Thing. The title also won a Charlotte Huck Award (NCTE), and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor.Derrick is also the creator of the New York Times Bestselling companion picture books, The King of Kindergarten (2019) and the Queen of Kindergarten (2022). He is a graduate of Jackson State University (BA-Marketing ’99) and was the first Black male creative copywriter hired by greeting cards giant Hallmark Cards. Derrick is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.Purchase Like Lava in my Veins here.Connect with Charnaie online in the following places:Blog: http://hereweeread.comPersonal Website: charnaiegordon.comPodcast Email Address: [email protected] Charnaie on the following social media platforms under the username @hereweeread: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.Feel free to share this podcast on your social media platforms to help spread the word to others. Thanks for listening!

Kelly Rowland is a four-time Grammy Award–winning singer, songwriter, actress, and executive producer with over 40 million records sold. She’s known worldwide as a founding member of Destiny’s Child, one of the bestselling female groups of all time. Kelly is also the coauthor of Whoa, Baby!: A Guide for New Moms Who Feel Overwhelmed and Freaked Out (and Wonder What the #*$& Just Happened). She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Please visit kellyrowland.com.Jessica MCKay is an educator living in Los Angeles with her husband and three children. While juggling work, family, and self, Jessica has always saved time to read. As an English teacher, she shares her passion for literature with her students. As a mother, she shares her love of books with her children. And now, as an author, she is sharing her first book with the world.Purchase Always With You, Always With Me here.Connect with Charnaie online in the following places:Blog: http://hereweeread.comPersonal Website: charnaiegordon.comPodcast Email Address: [email protected] Charnaie on the following social media platforms under the username @hereweeread: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.Feel free to share this podcast on your social media platforms to help spread the word to others. Thanks for listening!

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.Shauntay holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and is an associate professor of creative writing at Dalhousie University. A former poet laureate for the City of Halifax, her honors include a Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, a Joseph S. Stauffer Prize, and a Poet Of Honor prize from the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Shauntay 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.Learn more about her at shauntaygrant.com.Purchase My Fade is Fresh here.Connect with Charnaie online in the following places:Blog: http://hereweeread.comPersonal Website: charnaiegordon.comPodcast Email Address: [email protected] Charnaie on the following social media platforms under the username @hereweeread: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.Feel free to share this podcast on your social media platforms to help spread the word to others. Thanks for listening!