Lynn Joseph – Wikipedia

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American writer

Lynn Joseph is an author of children’s books and an American lawyer.[1] Her 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.

Early life and education[edit]

Lynn Joseph was born in Trinidad and moved to the United States when she was nine years old.[2] After moving to the United States with her family, she visited Trinidad during summers.[2] She wrote poems and stories as a student and published her work in student publications.[2]

She graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in 1986 and from Fordham University Law School with a J.D. in 1993.[2] After college, she worked as an editorial assistant at Harper & Row Children’s Books.[2] During her career as an attorney, she worked for the City of New York in litigation, and for Rohn & Carpenter, a law firm based in the U.S. Virgin Islands.[2]

Literary career[edit]

In 1990, Joseph published the children’s book Coconut Kind of Day: Island Poems, featuring 13 poems narrated by a child describing her life in Trinidad.[3] In 1991, she released A Wave in Her Pocket: Stories from Trinidad, a children’s book of folklore from Trinidad,[4] and released The Mermaid’s Twin Sister: More Stories from Trinidad in 1994.[5][6] In 1992, she released An Island Christmas, describing a Trinidad Christmas from the child narrator’s perspective.[7] In 1994, she also released Jasmine’s Parlour Day, a children’s book featuring a story of a mother and daughter.[8][9]

In 1998, Joseph released Jump Up Time: A Trinidad Carnival Story, a children’s book about two sisters during the Trinidad Carnival time,[10][11] and Fly, Bessie, Fly, a children’s book about Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman aviator.[12][13] In 2000, she released The Color of My Words, a novella written for children that features a child protagonist and her life in the Dominican Republic.[14]

In 2013, Joseph released the novel Flowers in the Sky, featuring a teenage protagonist and her life in the Dominican Republic and the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City.[15][16][17][18] In 2015, she released Dancing in the Rain, a novel featuring Dominican children and their navigation of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.[19]

She won the 1994 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature for The Mermaid’s Twin Sister, and won the award again in 2000 for The Color of My Words.[20]The Color of My Words also earned a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award.[21] Her manuscript for The Truth Is was a finalist for the 2015 Burt Award for Caribbean Literature.[22]

Publications[edit]

  • Coconut Kind of Day: Island Poems (1990)
  • A Wave in Her Pocket: Stories from Trinidad (1991)
  • An Island Christmas (1992)
  • The Mermaid’s Twin Sister: More Stories from Trinidad (1994)
  • Jasmine’s Parlour Day (1994)
  • Jump Up Time: A Trinidad Carnival Story (1998)
  • Fly, Bessie, Fly (1998)
  • The Color of My Words (2000)[23][14][24][25]
  • Flowers in the Sky (2013)
  • Dancing in the Rain (2015)[26]

Personal life[edit]

Joseph resides in New York and Bermuda.[27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cullinan, Bernice E.; Diane Goetz Person (2005). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-8264-1778-7.
  2. ^ a b c d e f “Lynn Joseph”. Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors. July 25, 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  3. ^ “Coconut Kind of Day: Island Poems”. Publishers Weekly. August 1, 1990. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  4. ^ “A Wave in Her Pocket”. Kirkus Reviews. April 15, 1991. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  5. ^ “The Mermaid’s Twin Sister”. Kirkus Reviews. May 1, 1994. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  6. ^ O’Hara, Sheilamae (April 15, 1994). “The Mermaid’s Twin Sister: More Stories from Trinidad”. Booklist. American Library Association. 90 (16). Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  7. ^ “An Island Christmas”. Kirkus Reviews. August 1, 1992. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  8. ^ “Jasmine’s Parlour Day”. Publishers Weekly. May 2, 1994. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  9. ^ “Jasmine’s Parlor Day”. Kirkus Reviews. May 15, 1994. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  10. ^ “Jump Up Time”. Kirkus Reviews. August 1, 1998. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  11. ^ Lempke, Susan Dove (October 15, 1998). “Jump Up Time: A Trinidad Carnival Story”. Booklist. American Library Association. 95 (4). Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  12. ^ “Fly, Bessie, Fly”. Publishers Weekly. November 2, 1998. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  13. ^ “Fly, Bessie, Fly”. Kirkus Reviews. November 1, 1998. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  14. ^ a b “The Color of My Words”. Kirkus Reviews. August 15, 2000. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  15. ^ “Flowers in the Sky”. Publishers Weekly. January 14, 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  16. ^ “Flowers in the Sly”. Kirkus Reviews. February 15, 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  17. ^ Hilbun, Janet (May 1, 2013). “Flowers in the Sky”. School Library Journal. 59 (5). via EBSCOhost
  18. ^ Coats, Karen (May 2013). “Flowers in the Sky by Lynn Joseph (review)”. Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Johns Hopkins University Press. 66 (9): 423. doi:10.1353/bcc.2013.0355. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  19. ^ “Dancing In The Rain”. Kirkus Reviews. August 1, 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  20. ^ York, Sherry (2005). “Book Awards: Ethnicity, Diversity, & Hope”. Library Media Connection. 24 (3): 39. ISSN 1542-4715.
  21. ^ “CCBC: Jane Addams Book Award”. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  22. ^ Neaves, Julien (19 April 2016). “Lynn Joseph: ‘Writing is Always First’“. Repeating Islands. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  23. ^ “The Color of My Words”. Publishers Weekly. July 31, 2000. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  24. ^ Peters, John (October 15, 2000). “The Color of My Words”. Booklist. American Library Association. 97 (4). Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  25. ^ Edwards, Laurie (November 2001). “The Color of My Words”. School Library Journal. Library Journals, LLC. 47 (11). Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  26. ^ “Joseph, Lynn”. WorldCat. Retrieved 2020-02-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ^ “Lynn Joseph”. Harper Collins. Retrieved 2 January 2022.

External links[edit]