BETHEL — Gwendolyn Wallace recently debuted her first children’s book, Joy Takes Root, at Byrd’s Books.

She told those who gathered in Bethel June 20 she was given the option to host this unveiling of the book in New York City but, instead, the Connecticut native chose to support two indie bookstores — Byrd’s near her home in Danbury, and the Possible Futures bookstore near Yale, where she went to school.

Byrd’s Books is an independent bookstore owned and created by Alice Byrd Hutchinson.

Wallace’s book launch had a smaller crowd allowing for a very intimate and interactive experience. Instead of being a presentation, it was an open discussion in which the author and her guests examined book banning, the children’s book industry, and the story itself.

Joy Takes Root is about a young Black girl, Joy, who learns about gardening while spending the summer with her grandmother in South Carolina. She cultivates her connection with the earth, loving it as it loves her.

Wallace describes the book as an “intergenerational effort.”

In a post-event interview with The Newtown Bee, Wallace said the story reflects her experiences with her paternal grandmother, who first introduced her to “the magic of plants and the relationship that you have with plants when you care for them and tend to them.”

This led to gardening becoming a huge part of her life. Wallace said as a child, propagating plants felt like magic.

But now, she views it as a practice of hope, love, and patience.

Growing Up Locally

Wallace grew up in the Danbury area, and received a degree in the history of science and medicine from Yale in 2021. She currently attends grad school in London, where she is studying public history.

Most of her writing focuses on the topics of ecomemory, Black feminism, and health justice. Joy Takes Root most closely examines ecomemory, which is defined as the human connection to the earth, and the memories ingrained in the soil. Through the love imbued in the earth, Joy forms lifelong connections with her ancestors.

These ancestors are the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of enslaved Africans along the Atlantic coast between Jacksonville, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla. These individuals created a unique culture that Wallace said is under attack.

She said they are “being displaced and pushed out because of so much development on the coast,” and not many people know about them. So, she just wants “everybody to know who the Gullah Geechee people are.”

Joy Takes Root is a story “about cultural retention ... about how we pass down traditions, and how we pass down hope and thankfulness even amongst these really, really hard and terrible histories,” said Wallace. It reflects her experiences as a Black woman and descendant of the Gullah Geechee people.

It appears to be her way of telling their story.

Wallace said, “being Black in America and … being descended from enslaved people in America … obviously, we have a lot of trauma and pain in our family history.”

She articulated that many people avoid passing this down, “so as to not harm the next generations,” but she believes embracing this dark history has a lot of value. Joy Takes Root showcases the ways in which individuals can share these stories and traditions.

Wallace’s other writing credits include the short story “To Forage,” for which she won the 2021 Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award, and creative non-fiction pieces published in magazines and journals such as Wear Your Voice.

Coming Up Next

Her next book is The Light She Feels Inside, scheduled to be released October 3. This story follows Maya, a young Black girl struggling to find herself. With the help of Black women throughout history, she must learn to process and love her “glow,” and how to use it to change the world around her.

The Light She Feels Inside was the first children’s book Wallace had ever written, and it earned her a book deal, even though Joy Takes Root was her first book to be commercially published.

The publishing company Kokila posted on Twitter they were looking for Black children’s book authors, and Wallace submitted The Light She Feels Inside. Although she said she did not have an agent, and she did not format her submission correctly, she was successful in getting an offer.

Wallace said she had a lot of control over the visualization of her story, Joy Takes Root, and by working with the illustrator, Ashleigh Corrin, she was able to recreate “the importance of having beautiful spaces around us, outside and inside,” which her grandmother taught her.

As a Black woman, Wallace said she values a family practice of remaining in touch with her roots, whether that history may be painful or joyful.

Wallace told The Bee what amazed her about her family is knowing that traumatic history, “but also sharing so much of the joy, and saying that in the constant face of death and destruction there is always hope for the future and love to be had.”

When asked if she could write a dedication to Black girls and women, for whom the book is written, she replied since the book was written for a younger version of herself, that message would be: “trust yourself … so many of us are rooting for you.”

Summer intern Maia Labbe is a Newtown resident and journalism major at University of Florida, Gainesville.