Welcome to The Bookcase.

I'm your host, Shawna Richards, a sometime writer and a longtime reader.

I invite you to join me as we explore The Bookcase and celebrate Virgin Islands authors and talent.

Each week on The Bookcase, we'll introduce you to a local author and learn more about them and their work.

A storyteller lives in each of us, and I am so excited to give our homegrown storytellers a chance to tell their story.

Tonight's selection from The Bookcase is My Island Home: St. Croix and I'm honored to welcome its author, Tamika LeRay Tamika, welcome to The Bookcase.

Thank you so much for joining us this evening.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm really excited to be here.

My name is Tamika LeRay, affectionately known as Miss T, and I am the author of My Island Home: St. Croix.

What inspired you to write this book?

So I relocated to St. Croix during the pandemic after living my entire life in the northeast section of the states, and when I arrived, I just fell in love with the people, the culture and specifically the children with special needs that I worked with, and I wanted to create a story for them that can teach them, but also represent them in a way that made sense for their culture and life on the island of St. Croix.

Was it difficult for you to write a book about St. Croix?

No, it wasn't difficult.

I spent I spent almost a year there before I felt the inspiration to write.

So I had had a range of experiences in my professional life and personal life, and it all just came together to me.

Actually, one night when I was sleeping that I wanted to create this book.

And so once I sat down and put pen to paper, it flowed.

It flowed easily for me.

When you were writing this book, you take the author throughout Christiansted, we see so many bits of St. Croix, familiar sites, culture, history.

Did you have any local guides and local writing mentors that helped you just to piece everything together?

So not directly.

I didn't have any direct local guides, but I was very much inspired by every person I met and every place I went.

I actually started writing by looking through photos I had taken over my year on the island, and then I would ask various friends on the island if certain things made sense.

I did also have friends, you know, make sure that there was an authentic voice that came through my experiences.

So informally I solicited friends to provide input, but I really allowed this to be my creative baby and representation of the children on the island.

Did you find in in putting your book together and in your work as speech language pathologist that children of color aren’t represented in the materials that you use?

Were you trying to fill a gap in the materials that you use?

Absolutely.

So in addition to children of color, there's definitely a cultural nuance of being a Virgin Islander, specifically being from St. Croix, and so although I had access to a range of materials for children of color, there are some cultural nuances that I wanted to make sure that the children I served were able to see represented and were able to learn about in a context that made sense to them.

So in part, yes, yet I really wanted to highlight the beautiful cultural elements that I wasn't able to extract from other learning materials.

Is this the first time that you've written a book to help you in your work and help you in serving your clients?

So this is my first children's book.

Yeah, it's my fifth book overall.

I've been, I loved how you introduced yourself Shawna as a sometime writer.

So when I was, I’ve written various faith based self-healing books, but this is my first children's book and I'm really proud to share it.

What I really like about your book, My Island Home: St Croix is the poetic feel to it each page, each section.

There was just that sense of rhythm in the language and poetry, in the language.

And was that something that you intentionally set out to do?

Recognizing the needs of the children that you serve?

Absolutely.

It was extremely intentional.

Throughout the book, I use poetic prose as well as a variety of strategies that are actually needed in early literacy learning for young children.

So it was intentional to have that rhythm, those rhymes as well as certain vocabulary choices there in alignment with what children should be learning or are learning on the Virgin Islands and in St. Croix.

What has been the feedback now that My Island Home: St. Croix is out into the world?

What type of feedback have you gotten about it?

That's a great question.

So from other educators, they are really grateful for this book and to share this in their classroom.

I have independently been able to share this book with over 200 individuals, also in partnership with local organizations on island who are sharing this book.

And the feedback has been amazing.

They love seeing the culture represented and there are a lot of individuals have been grateful that for me, who relocated that I was willing to give back and doing so from an open heart, and then the children love the pictures.

I've had friends send me picture and videos of their children reading the book, enjoying the book, and it's been awesome just to receive that feedback and to see that my words and my experience are now being shared with those across the island and beyond.

Did you work with an illustrator?

What I appreciated about your book is the the colors were so vibrant, the illustrations were so just, you know, colorful and dynamic and really represented the St. Croix that we all know and love.

Did you work with an illustrator and how did you find this person?

I did.

I actually worked with an illustrator that I hired, although in retrospect, I would have loved to work with a local artist, and so as I continue to create, that is my plan.

But I served as creative director for the illustrator that I hired using pictures that I had taken on my own, as well as really coaching them through what I wanted the book to feel like in terms of having those bright images, but making sure that they were accessible for children with visual limitations and other limitations.

So I really coach someone through it who worked with me yet.

Moving forward, I would love to work with a local artist to really create that partnership.

What are some of the key priorities that you wanted to address in this book that were informed by your by your day job as a speech pathologist?

That's a wonderful question.

So I really, really wanted the book to be shared from the perspective of a child.

I experienced St. Croix as an adult, and it's an amazing place to live and enjoy.

Yet one of the needs that I've seen is really for there to be a heart for children across the island and in a lot of the different resources and activities, and so I wanted to speak from the perspective of a child.

Just to draw children into what their experience is like living on the island.

So that was really important to me.

And then also, like I mentioned, really adding those educational elements, those literacy elements that are critical for young children to learn and have exposure to in a way that's culturally relevant to them.

How important was it to for you to write a book that is culturally relevant to young St. Croix students?

Extremely.

It's extremely.

It was extremely and is extremely important to me So throughout my career as a speech and language pathologist, as well as when I served in education on St. Croix for a bit of time.

I was a big advocate for ensuring that students had access to culturally relevant and significant materials that reflect them and challenged their personal experiences.

So it's always been a major part of who I am professionally and will continue to be a big part of who I am as a writer and in my personal life.

So it's very important that the children and their families have access to materials that not only show the beautiful images, but that represent the pride that I know that a lot of Virgin Islanders and crucians shared with me, and so I wanted to just keep in that energy and make sure that I was producing something that resonated with children in their families from a pride standpoint.

So My Island Home: St. Croix is your first children's book, but you've said it's not your first book.

How long have you been writing?

So I've always been a writer ever since I was a little girl.

That was my favorite subject.

I would create stories from my imagination.

Yet my first published book was in 2018.

I had gone through a variety of life changes and I wanted to share out with others hope and inspiration that I had been getting, that I gained while going through those various life experiences and I've consistently written since then.

Yet again, this this is, My Island Home: St. Croix has been one of my favorite projects because it lives outside of me, and it's it was a gift to the island of St. Croix, and so I'm really excited to share about this.

And that is certainly the sense that I got from it, that it was a love letter to St. Croix, and I think it was especially meaningful that it was written for children and to help see things that sometimes we walk by every day and we take them for granted and to just see them from a different a different perspective, but how did you make that shift?

You said you've been you know, you've been writing since you were a young child.

How did you make that shift into speech pathology?

Tell us a little bit about that story.

Absolutely.

So like I mentioned earlier, I grew up in the Northeast.

I'm originally from New York, and I had a range of experiences that actually did not prepare me to go to college and school.

Yet I was so blessed to have an internship that introduced me to working with children who had special needs, and I absolutely fell in love with the field of speech pathology as a high schooler, and from there I realized that not only my love for communication was good for me, but to be able to provide children with the gift of communication, whether it's verbally or otherwise, really just grew into my passion, and so it's been ten years since I began in the profession.

Yet it started as a young girl who would love to write and love to read and found so much value in communicating to being introduced to a field such as speech pathology, where I could be the catalyst to children providing their own voice, and so that's kind of been my journey, and then writing this particular book.

I came to Saint Croix.

I was serving as a speech and language pathologist at first, and I just fell in love with the children and again, wanted them to be able to not just learn what they needed to learn, but learn about their culture in a way that made sense and that could just bring again forward that pride and joy of being crucian, and so here I was able to blend my professional training as well as my creative efforts to create My Island Home: St. Croix.

When you were growing up and going to school, were you seeing people that looked like you in the books that you were reading?

Not much.

I really didn't see a lot of black characters, characters who had similar cultural experiences or even a diverse family background such as I and so as I would write as a young student, I would create those stories that I needed, and as I've written for years, I would create the stories that I needed of of faith, strength and hope from the perspective of a black woman, and now I'm really excited to be able to pour out my experience on St. Croix on behalf of the children there.

That's been it's been a nice journey for me to expand beyond my personal needs.

And like you mentioned, creating a love letter for St. Croix, because I believe the children deserve it.

So you talk about literacy and how you would like for this book to support literacy.

Is that one of your key goals in your writing throughout throughout all of the books that you've written?

Absolutely.

So I for the majority of my career, have been a school based speech and language pathologists, and so working very closely with the teachers and other educators towards literacy outcomes and goals specifically for children of diverse backgrounds and various abilities, and so that's always been a passion of mine, and I continue on.

I've continued on in making sure that that shines through my creative endeavors such as My Island Home: St. Croix.

So I always like to ask the authors that we host on The Bookcase what they're reading.

What are you reading right now?

So currently I'll be honest and say in the warmer months I'm mostly a podcast person, but I have been reading Living beyond your feelings, controlling emotions so they don't control you.

I'm really into self-help and development, and that's a book by Joyce Meyer, and so I'm reading that, but I'm spending a lot of time taking in podcasts related to a variety of different concepts and ideas.

What writers are you inspired by?

So I really so my favorite book, I'll say, is The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin.

So I really love her writings.

I also love a lot of autobiographies.

Please pardon.

I'm not able to name as many authors, but I love certain books that really provide and share about the author’s story.

So the Other Side of Paradise has been my all time favorite, and then I'm blanking on the names of others, but I can share that with you.

Another time.

So what can you tell our audience about your writing process?

You've written books that speak to your own personal history and you've written a children's book.

What can you tell us about your process?

Are you a pen and paper person?

Do you sit down in front of a laptop?

What does writing look like for you?

That's a great question.

So I am mostly inspired by my experiences.

And so I mentioned earlier, I like to take a lot of pictures of my environment and usually my idea from a book comes from either photos I've taken or an experience that I've had, and then from there I will sit in front of my laptop and create an outline.

And that outline isn't necessarily just hopping right into the context of the book.

It's what did I learn?

What am my reflections and how would I like for this to, if you will, bless other people?

Once I’m clear about that, I'm able just to create pretty with a nice flow.

So even creating My Island Home: St. Croix I want to say the writing process for me took about a month, really making sure that I was focused on the feelings that I felt while I was on the island and also making sure that I was able to tap into my inner child on behalf of the children of the island itself.

It took me about a month after being really inspired for a year, having a year of photos and a range of experiences and relationships that really fueled my passion and love through my experiences while there.

Did you work with, So in all of the books that you've written, did you work with the same publisher or use the same self-publishing process to bring My Island Home: St. Croix to print?

So that's the fun part.

As for me, so I self-publish and I've gone through learning a lot of that process, and so to answer your question, yes, because I have done that work on my own and then I will use friends as editors and hire a formal editor at the end of the process.

But overall, I've self-published and I've enjoyed that experience.

It's one that again, balancing out my professional creative side.

It's also a part of the process that I really love.

So how do you how do you make that time to write?

How do you make that time?

So I do have the habit of journaling every morning, so that routine helps me, and I, I don't say I have a set schedule, but my biggest motivator, like I mentioned, is how can I bless other people?

So even on days when I'm tired or exhausted because I do also work, I just say, listen, I want my creative efforts, such as My Island Home: St. Croix to be available, and so I just have mobilized my, motivated myself and mobilized myself through taking nature walks or making sure that I have a routine such as getting up in the morning instead of journaling, writing or typing, asking, having courageous conversations around whatever I'm thinking of, and really just allowing that to fuel me when I get up in the morning and write.

I will say I'm most productive in the mornings, and so that's that's kind of how I just am able to produce, and it's usually I love I love the process of writing.

It doesn't it feels different than when I'm doing other tasks for work, like this is my creative outlet and so it feels good.

I see it as self-love and self-care while I'm producing books.

How many years have you been journaling?

So I have been journaling I want to say my earliest journal is from 2003, So that is about 20 years of journaling.

Yes, and so I will say I've had periods where I wasn't as consistent, but I've grown to appreciate it as a consistent practice for me, that just helps me to feel good each day.

So when you were growing up, a young girl going to school, was there any particular teacher or person that really inspired your love of writing or encouraged your love of writing?

Absolutely.

So I have several teachers that come to mind.

The first was Ms.. Weinstein, my third grade teacher.

She saw the gift in me and would call it out of me and would challenge me to share my stories when I wrote, and then also my ninth grade teacher, Ms.. Adams.

She was very tough on me.

Those beginning high school years were challenging.

I had a range of family things going on and she saw that light in me and to this day is still a big encourager of me continuing to write.

So those two particular teachers definitely stand out.

Yet I want to say across my academic career that's always been highlighted as a strength of mine and I've had a range of teachers push me to write because they saw the benefits for me, and it's been an honor to produce a book such as My Island Home that are not only reflective of my experiences, but that can again bless others.

Do you see yourself writing more children's books in the future?

Absolutely, I do.

I am.

I continue to be inspired by my time in the Virgin Islands.

I also do have a small dog and I would love to create again literacy based book series based on Reese, which is my dog's name, and so those are projects that I'm so brainstorming and will be in the works soon.

What tips do you have for aspiring writers out there?

I will just encourage you to know that the world needs your stories, know that every experience you go through, whether small or big, major or minor, that others are to be like, Share that out and know that your voice is meaningful, and in the last, the last would be like, I encourage folks to just write, whether it's writing in your journal, writing a book or a project, share out your thoughts, because it is, I believe, a great way just to heal yourself, and so share, no matter how young or old you are, share out and be encouraged that your voice and your thoughts matter.

And and I thought it was so important that you thought our young Virgin Islanders are young crucians needed to see themselves in a book and brought that book to the page.

So with that, I'd like for you to share a favorite passage from My Island Home: St. Croix with our audience.

Absolutely.

So my favorite passage is on page 28, and the accompanying picture is on page 29, and it's about the fruit.

I loved all of the delicious fruit that I enjoyed there.

So I'll share this, says On St. Croix, where an island that's teeming with fruit, as the earth is so fertile the trees can take root.

There are coconuts, passion, fruit and mangoes to eat.

Can you taste how each bite is so juicy and sweet?

And so that's one of my favorite passages throughout the book.

I really thought that the words in the picture just bring that experience to life, and that was one of my favorite things to do throughout the island, which is to enjoy great food, especially the fruit.

So maybe there's a book about our local fruit in your future, perhaps.

I definitely could expand on that.

So in setting out to write My Island Home: St. Croix you deliberately chose poetry, recognizing that it would support the the literacy goals and the needs of your intended audience.

So was writing poetry hard for you or putting all of those pieces together difficult for you?

It wasn't.

I've always had I've always been a poet, if you will.

So that's been my chosen writing style for many years.

Outside of writing books, I have also performed poetry, and so it came very naturally for me, and then again being inspired by the people, places and things on the island.

It really flowed quite naturally for me.

When you were writing My Island Home: St. Croix and with all of the fantastic things that you could put about Saint Croix in your book, was there anything that didn't quite make the cut?

Was there any?

That's a great question.

So I would have loved to be a little bit more specific, perhaps with some history.

I know I've grown to learn about some of St. Croix amazing history, and so perhaps that's something I could expand on.

Yet I really kept it to day to day life and didn't focus so much on history.

So perhaps I could have sprinkled in a bit more there but overall, I'm really, really proud of My Island Home: St. Croix.

I think it'll be a different type of book for children and their families on the island When you set out to write it, did you were you working with a specific page count or were you just giving yourself the creative freedom to let the book take you where it would?

It definitely worked with creative freedom.

I wanted to capture as many experiences that the children of the island would have seen and been privy to, So I just allowed it to flow.

And I believe the book is pretty robust with a lot of information and visuals that I wanted to share.

And while you have written it as a children's book, I certainly think it's a book that can be enjoyed and appreciated by audiences of all ages.

But what is the key message of your book?

So my key message of the book is I think we mentioned it earlier, is to really see the island through the lens of a child.

I know that, you know, St. Croix has a lot of individua who come and visit and are able to partake in a range of activities.

Yet there is so much history and culture of the children and individuals who have grown up on the island, and I really, really want everyone to who reads the book to take a moment to slow down and enjoy the simple loves of the island, the fruits, the views, the people, the places, the music and culture to slow down and really take in how rich and robust crucian culture is.

So now that you've written My Island Home: St. Croix and gotten such favorable feedback, what are other ways that you feel that your work as a writer Tamika can help to build literacy?

That's a great question.

So I'm really hopeful to not only share the book, but I'd love to be able to donate books to some of the local schools.

My plan is also to host live reading events throughout the island, and so I'm hopeful to expand on that, and then in general, I do continue to practice as a speech and language pathologist and educator, which works in tandem with with being a writer, and so as I'm inspired, my plan is to continue to share child centered literacy for for children who do and do not have disabilities, but for now, really just expanding on the impact of My Island Home: St. Croix and continuing to be open to the experiences and opportunities that come my way as a writer and educator.

And that is something that we can certainly appreciate.

It's been a pleasure to learn more about our local talent.

Tamika LeRay and her book My Island Home: St. Croix.

For more information on this book or any of the books featured on this program, visit our website at WWW.WTJX.ORG We appreciate your support of our local authors and we'll see you next week when we take another book from The Bookcase.