Lynn Joseph

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.

Lynn Joseph
Occupation
  • Writer
  • lawyer
Alma mater
GenreChildren's books
Notable awards

Early life and education

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

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]

Awards

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
  • 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

Joseph resides in New York and Bermuda.[27]

References
  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. "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. "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.
  27. "Lynn Joseph". Harper Collins. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
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