Vincentian writer pens her first children’s story

A young Vincentian writer who answered the National Public Library’s recent call for storytellers has penned her first children’s story on the strength of mother figures.

“My mom the superhero” is available in its entirety on the Facebook page of the St Vincent and the Grenadines National Public Library under the video series, “Online Story Time” and it is read by the author herself, Janielle Browne.

After this publication, SEARCHLIGHT reached out to the writer to discuss what the newest addition to the literary scene has in store for its young audience.

Browne revealed that the story is told from the point of view of eight-year-old Ria who is convinced that her mother must be a superhero.
Observing the way that her mother takes care of her and her brother, Ria believes her to be the holder of powers of super strength, as well as powers to heal the body and heart.

“I focused on my own mother as inspiration, as well as my elder sister who is now a mother, and the things that I see them do and the ways in which they meaningfully impact their children’s lives,” Browne disclosed.

“I don’t think we celebrate mothers enough. One day is not enough,” she noted.

Browne is contemplating putting together a children’s series focusing on life skills but represented in a “fun, mystical, fantastical way.”

“I think that it’s important to bring across foundational and vital information in a way that is palpable and enjoyable,” she said.

The 25-year-old may be no stranger to the Vincentian readership as she already has a sterling literary track record.

The holder of a first class honours degree in Literature (with a minor in History) has won many prizes in poetry and prose competitions nationally and regionally.

“I’ve been writing for as long as I could remember. When I was 11, I finished my first poetry collection,” Browne remembered.

She feels that writing is at the core of her existence, “…At this point it’s a part of me, it’s deeply ingrained in me. There were years of my life where in order to survive things I had to write through them and there was hardly ever a pain or an experience that I could not traverse through writing.”

Her advice to other young people gathering the courage to pick up the pen would be “don’t hesitate, don’t second guess yourself. Just do it and go from there.

“Because if you are of the impression that you need to have perfection the first time you put it on the page, you’re going to have a very hard, harrowing road ahead of you.”

She admitted to never being a fan of the editing process but that she has come to terms with the fact that everything can be revised or reworked.

“…Stay true to yourself and as cliché as that sounds it is the most important thing,” she noted.

Quoting her elder sister who offered advice at a time when others were passing off her work as their own, Browne commented, “in this life there are the creators and there are the people who copy, and the people who copy will always be three steps behind because they have to wait on you to create something.”

“That stuck with me because I was absolutely terrified that everything I put out somebody was going to steal my intellectual property,” she said.

“Now I just write what I need to write, I don’t look at what other people are doing.”