Ayo’s Adventure across the African Diaspora by Ain Heath Drew

We were curious to ask author, Ain Heath Drew about Ayo’s Adventure Across the African Diaspora and the inspirations and research into this beautiful book. Read our Q&A below!

Tell us about Ayo, the adventures, and where the idea initially came from.

Ayo goes on an adventure through the African Diaspora, learning about just a fraction of the people, traditions, elements, and cultures that are a part of the global Black community. His journey is packed with information, joy, and curiosity.

The idea for Ayo’s Adventure truly bubbled out of nowhere and overflowed onto paper. I remember sitting at my friend’s place when I first shared the idea with her. Ola is a writer, and she’s Nigerian, so I knew she’d be the perfect sounding board. Her genuine excitement was the small push I needed to complete the first draft.

When choosing the alphabet and places, did you find it tricky to narrow down?

It was incredibly difficult to narrow the African Diaspora down to 26 concepts. For certain letters, I had two to three ideas, for others, I had to dig deep and go on my own learning journey. While we were in the revision process, it was really important to make sure we represented a wide range of countries. With that in mind, some concepts were swapped for others. I could honestly write Ayo’s Adventure ten times over with different representations for each letter, which is a testament to the depth and richness of the Diaspora.

Was it easy to blend the historical facts with Ayo’s adventure?

It was difficult to condense the facts with Ayo’s Adventure without overwhelming the reader. I knew it was important to both teach and entertain, while also employing a level of brevity that a picture book requires. Focusing on Ayo’s actual experiences made that work a little easier. The heavier information is located in the end matter. We also included text boxes with snippets of facts on most pages.

What is the hope you have for readers picking up Ayo’s Adventures?

I want readers to walk away with two things – an understanding of the interconnectedness of Black people around the world, and the curiosity to learn more. The Diaspora was captured beautifully in Ayo’s Adventure, but it wasn’t captured fully. I’m hoping both children and adults are inspired to take a deeper dive into the Diaspora after reading.

The illustrations by Erin Robinson and your text are a perfect match and look brilliant on the page – are the illustrations as you imagined?

Erin’s illustrations are beyond what I could have imagined. When my editor, Autumn Allen, shared that Erin would be illustrating Ayo, I cried tears of joy. I knew that the impact of this book would be even greater with the right visuals. Erin’s style is warm and inviting, but it’s also vibrant and colorful. Every page has a texture of its own. I’m so honored that she was able to bring her magic to this project.

What future projects are you working on that you can share with us?

I have a handful of picture book manuscripts that I’m currently shopping around to publishers and agents. I’m not sure what the next step is, but right now I’m trying to remain present and enjoy this moment of introducing Ayo’s Adventure to the world. This book is the culmination of over two years of hard work, research, revising, editing, and love. I just want to sit with the incredible feeling of seeing my vision come to life so brilliantly.

Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.