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Skin Of The Sea
''Skin of the Sea'' is a 2021 young adult fantasy novel by Nigerian Welsh writer Natasha Bowen. Bowen's debut novel follows Simi, a Mami Wata, mami wata who travels across sea and land in search of the Supreme Creator after breaking a law that threatens the existence of all mami wata. The book entered the New York Time Best Seller, New York Times and Indie Bestseller list a week after it was released in November 2021. The sequel, ''Soul of the Deep'', was released in 2022. Plot Simi is one of the Mami Wata, mermaid-like beings created by the goddess Yemoja. They collect the souls of enslaved people who die at sea and send them to the afterlife. However, Simi misses her former existence as a human. She is able to take human form at will, although walking causes her pain. When she finds a human boy still alive after being thrown from a slave ship, she breaks the rules and rescues him. The boy, Kola, is desperate to return to his family. Yemoja tells Simi that she has endangered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natasha Bowen
Natasha Bowen is a Nigerian-Welsh writer and teacher. She writes fantasy books for young adults. She is best known for her '' New York Times Bestselling'' novel '' Skin of the Sea''. Early life and education Natasha Bowen was born in Cambridge, England, to a Nigerian Yoruba father and a Welsh mother. She grew up in Cambridge with little exposure to her Nigerian heritage, with which she would later connect in life and use in writing her novel. She studied Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. After graduating, she moved to East London, where she became a teacher. Personal life Bowen has three children. She lives in the UK with her family. Career Bowen's debut novel '' Skin of the Sea'', the first book in the ''Of Mermaid and Orisa series'' inspired by her Nigerian heritage, African folklore, Yoruba culture, and her love for mermaids, was published on 2 November 2021 by Random House. She wrote the novel while teaching full-time in a school. The novel follows Simi, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
We Need Diverse Books
We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) is a nonprofit organization created to promote diversity of multiple forms in children's literature and publishing, which grew out of the Twitter hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks in 2014. The organization's programming includes funding grants and internships for diverse authors and people interested in publishing, a mentorship program, providing lists of book recommendations for librarians, teachers, and parents on finding books with characters from marginalized backgrounds, and publishing an anthology of short stories featuring multiple authors from diverse backgrounds. History We Need Diverse Books started on Twitter. Following the announcement of a panel of all-white, all-male children's authors at BookCon in 2014, Ellen Oh, Malinda Lo, and other authors and publishing insiders began protesting and discussing the lack of diversity and representation in the field on Twitter using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. The organizers asked Twitter follower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senegalese
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤠𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Renndaandi Senegaali); Arabic: جمهورية السنغال ''Jumhuriat As-Sinighal'') is a country in West Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal nearly surrounds the Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, which separates Senegal's southern region of Casamance from the rest of the country. Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegal's economic and political capital is Dakar. Senegal is notably the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia. It owes its name to the Sen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perform some form of work while also having their location or residence dictated by the enslaver. Many historical cases of enslavement occurred as a result of breaking the law, becoming indebted, or suffering a military defeat; other forms of slavery were instituted along demographic lines such as race. Slaves may be kept in bondage for life or for a fixed period of time, after which they would be granted freedom. Although slavery is usually involuntary and involves coercion, there are also cases where people voluntarily enter into slavery to pay a debt or earn money due to poverty. In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of civilization, and was legal in most societies, but it is now outlawed in most countries of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
School Library Journal
''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology, multimedia, and other information resources that are likely to interest young learners. Reviews are classified by the target audience of the publications: preschool; schoolchildren to 4th grade, grades 5 and up, and teens; and professional librarians themselves ("professional reading"). Fiction, non-fiction, and reference books books are reviewed, as are graphic novels, multimedia, and digital resources. History ''School Library Journal'' was founded by publisher R.R. Bowker in 1954, under the title ''Junior Libraries'' and by separation from its '' Library Journal''. The first issue was published on September 15, 1954. Gertrude Wolff was the first editor. Early in its history ''SLJ'' published nine issues each y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling". With 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on book reviews. The magazine was founded by bibliographer Frederick Leypoldt in the late 1860s, and had various titles until Leypoldt settled on the name ''The Publishers' Weekly'' (with an apostrophe) in 1872. The publication was a compilation of information about newly published books, collected from publishers and from other sources by Leypoldt, for an audience of booksellers. By 1876, ''The Publishers' Weekly'' was being read by nine tenths of the booksellers in the country. In 1878, Leypoldt sold ''The Publishers' Weekly'' to his friend Richard Rogers Bowker, in order to free up time for his other bibliographic endeavors. Eventually the publication expand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoruba Religion
The Yoruba religion (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), or Isese, comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria, which comprises the majority of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Lagos States, as well as parts of Kogi state and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, commonly known as Yoruba land. It shares some parallels with the Vodun practiced by the neighboring Fon and Ewe peoples to the west and to the religion of the Edo people and Igala people to the east. Yoruba religion is the basis for a number of religions in the New World, notably SanterÃa, Umbanda, Trinidad Orisha, and Candomblé. Yoruba religious beliefs are part of Ità n (history), the total complex of songs, histories, stories, and other cultural concepts which make up the Yoruba society. Term The Yoruba name for the Yoruba indigenous religion is Ìṣẹ̀ṣẹ, which also refers to the traditions a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature. ''Kirkus Reviews'', published on the first and 15th of each month; previews books before their publication. ''Kirkus'' reviews over 10,000 titles per year. History Virginia Kirkus was hired by Harper & Brothers to establish a children's book department in 1926. The department was eliminated as an economic measure in 1932 (for about a year), so Kirkus left and soon established her own book review service. Initially, she arranged to get galley proofs of "20 or so" books in advance of their publication; almost 80 years later, the service was receiving hundreds of books weekly and reviewing about 100. Initially titled ''Bulletin'' by Kirkus' Bookshop Service from 1933 to 1954, the title wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Werehyena
Were-hyena is a neologism coined in analogy to werewolf for therianthropy involving hyenas. It is common in the folklore of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Near East as well as some adjacent territories. Unlike werewolves and other therianthropes, which are usually portrayed as being originally human, some werehyena lore tells of how they can also be hyenas disguised as humans. African cultures In Somalia, it is traditionally believed that ''Qori Ismaris'' ("One who rubs himself with a stick") was a man who could transform himself into a "hyena-man" by rubbing himself with a magic stick at nightfall and by repeating this process could return to his human state before dawn. In Ethiopia, it is traditionally believed that every blacksmith, whose trade is hereditary, is really a wizard or witch with the power to change into a hyena. These blacksmith werehyenas are believed to rob graves at midnight and are referred to as '' bouda'' (also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asanbosam
The Asanbosam, or more commonly Sasabonsam, is a vampire-like folkloric being from the Akan people. It belongs to the folklore of the Akan of southern Ghana, as well as Côte d'Ivoire, Togo and 18th century Jamaica from enslaved Akan. It is said to have iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ... teeth, pink skin, long red hair and iron hooks for feet and lives in trees, attacking from above. In the forests of West Africa, there were rules of renewal, and the Sasabonsam would enforce these rules. They take up territory in the trees in the forests, where they live and feed on people that wander into their home. It becomes a territorial aspect for them. While being humanoid, these creatures have bat-like features. Sasabonsam resemble bats well, such a feature would be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yumboes
Yumboes are supernatural beings in the mythology of the Wolof people (most likely Lebou ) of Senegal, West Africa. Their alternatively used name Bakhna Rakhna literally means ''good people.Keightley, Thomas. "The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries", George Bell and Sons (1892), pp. 495-49https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41006/41006-h/41006-h.htm] Description Yumboes are the spirits of the dead and, like many supernatural beings in African beliefs, they are completely of a pearly-white colour. They are sometimes said to have silver hair. They stand about two feet tall. The Yumboes live beneath the Breast-shaped hill, Paps hills and come out to dance in the moonlight. They feast on large tables, waited on by servants who are invisible except for their hands and feet. Yumboes eat corn (which they steal from the humans) and fish (which they catch on their own). They invite both natives and foreigners to their feasts. Background Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
