‘If you know history, you can cut through the propaganda’

Tonya Bolden, seasoned American writer for children, on the intricacies of the act-of-reading and how the past is full of parallels

December 01, 2017 01:07 pm | Updated 01:07 pm IST

READING IS INDISPENSABLE Tonya Bolden

READING IS INDISPENSABLE Tonya Bolden

“Reading was important at my home; I’d see my parents reading, and we, my sister and I, would read too,” begins Tonya Bolden, “you see, my parents never denied me a book.” Bolden’s childhood in a modest home in Harlem, New York, has much to do with the opinions she’s formulated over the subject of upbringing and education – she believes it’s important for children to read and be acquainted with matters such as history.

Bolden visited The American Center for Bookaroo, the children’s literature festival that concluded recently. A warm person who punctuates her sentences with soft chuckles that endear her to everyone around her, she received the Non-fiction Award from the Children’s Book Guild of Washington DC for her body of work. Not only is she a noted author of several books of young adult fiction and essays in children’s non-fiction, she also happens to have worked on study guides, newsletters and various other varieties of writing. “It all only made me flexible. I still remember the moment when I quit my job and started writing full time; I knew that there was no other way,” shares Bolden.

‘Discipline is quintessential’

Having stepped into fiction for children only recently, her notions about the very act of writing have not simply proliferated but have grown firm and clear. “There are three things a writer needs in order to write – master the language you write in (here she digresses to share her exposure to Spanish and Italian in New York, and how she considers it indispensable to know more than two languages, since it gives ‘rhythm’ to the mind.).” Bolden continues, “Discipline is quintessential for a writer and the ability to research.” But, then her eyes grow with eagerness and she starts to describe something she has never been able to delineate. “There is also something mysterious about writing, I mean there is something about it that I can’t name. I know it, at times it feels as though it involves the soul,” states Bolden. There is also the interesting, and unconventional, fact she remarks upon, “Contrary to what you’d have yourself believe, non-fiction takes just as much creativity as any good fiction.”

Bolden’s work goes further than children’s literature, she is also regarded highly for her work in the genre of biographies, and is the author of MLK: Journey of a King (2006), a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. Why biographies? “I think I’m fascinated by people who don’t just live for themselves.” This also happens to be one of the things she teaches in the classrooms she finds herself in. And, it is here that she steps into a narrative that she’s all too familiar with, it’s easy to figure, succinctly she states, “History is important — if you know history, you can cut through the propaganda.” Her staunch belief in the fact that people who are aware of their histories and that of the world cannot be fooled is among many other insights regarding the subject. The other fact being that “History is full of parallels.” This propels her into sharing her discovery of the parallels between Classical Russian Literature and Southern-African folk tales, “I mean think about it, they were close to land, were oppressed, for one it was oats while for the other it was beans,” with each word clarity descends upon her.

A personal thing

Given the indispensable nature of reading, Bolden has also come to realise intricacies of the act-of-reading itself. She tends to believe, “Reading is a very personal thing. We often read on the basis of where we find ourselves in life; I didn’t understand Death of a Salesman when I was in high school but when I revisited it in my thirties I understood everything.” Her choice of reading is subject to her research work now, even though she still recalls works of O’ Flanner, James Baldwin, Charles Johnson other than Dr. Seuss, William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer.

“If I look at my body of work, I guess (she takes a brief pause), I have been teaching always through my work,” Bolden near broods this as she speaks. Teaching was what she knew she’d do ever since she was 10 years of age — she calls the 8-10 years bracket the wonder years, where she is sure that we decipher who we’d preferably become as we grew. Her point on education is quiet honest and straight forward, “although the jury’s out on the subject of technology, I don’t think I’m too sure or keen on it. Think about it, if everything went digital then what’d these kids have to learn from. I mean, we still have artefacts from everything we’ve done — we learn from them,” she ends with sincerity, “Children need to think for themselves, not via Google.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.