Single Dreadlock

XAIVER MICHAEL CAMPBELL, from Kingston, Jamaica, has lived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, for over a decade. His work has appeared in the Malahat Review, Riddle Fence and in the anthologies Us, Now and Best Canadian Stories 2024. He was nominated twice for the Journey Prize and named a Writers’ Trust Rising Star. Xaiver co-authored Black Harbour: Slavery and the Forgotten Histories of Black People in Newfoundland and Labrador with Heather Barrett. A Single Dreadlock is Xaiver’s debut picture book.EUGENIE FERNANDES grew up painting with her father, a comic-book illustrator, and has become a celebrated artist in her own right, illustrating more than one hundred books and writing and illustrating twenty-five, including When Rabbit Was a Lion. Her illustrations for Earth Magic by Dionne Brand were nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award, and paintings from two of her books are in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Eugenie lives in Ontario.

“It’s always a wonderful treat when you read a book and genuinely feel like you can hear, touch, taste, and even smell its story. I hear seagulls and the sound of Grandma’s comb being pulled through her grandson Lovie’s hair. I see Lovie’s hair — such an important part of him, but also somehow a living, breathing character all on its own. I taste mangoes and salty ocean air. I smell flowers, fruit trees, and Grandma’s hair grease. A Single Dreadlock by author Xaiver Michael Campbell and illustrator Eugenie Fernandes is a heartfelt and joyful celebration of self-love, intergenerational relationships, and family.” — Christine Baldacchino, author of Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress and Violet Shrink