04/14/2022
☂️ AUTHOR UMBRELLA : Joseph Coelho ☂️ As we continue to highlight authors this month, how about we peek into the colorful and poetic world of Joseph Coelho?
Joseph is an award-winning poet, performer, playwright, and children’s author who has written or been featured in over 20 books. He shared with us how he draws his story and poetry inspiration from place like “museums, art galleries, long walks, long bike rides. Anything that helps me clear my head and view the world through a different lens.” Showing different perspectives and diverse characters is something Joseph is known for. He was honored for this by being shortlisted for the 2021 Diverse Book Award.
Joseph has spent 16 years working in schools demystifying poetry and writing, making both feel more accessible to children. He remembers struggling to read or write properly until age 7 and that they didn’t have many books growing up. However, his mother always took him to the nearby library. “The fact that we had a library that was local to us was one of the reasons I became a writer.” His education and career have taken many twists and turns from studying archaeology, being a gym instructor, even acting in a movie - but all the while he wrote!
When we asked him what he’d like to share with young, aspiring authors, he said to always “carry a notebook with you wherever you go. You never know when good ideas will strike and you need to be ready.”
Joseph believes strongly in the next generation and the “need to honor children’s’ voices and to help heal the world by teaching children that there is power in their words and giving them the tools to recognize the voices of others.”
Which of Joseph’s books or poems do you love most?
