Tessa McWatt – författare

This stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.Agnes Martin was born on the Canadian prairies in the early twentieth century. In this imagining of her childhood from acclaimed author Tessa McWatt, Agnes spends her days surrounded by wheat fields, where her grandfather encourages her to draw what she sees and feels around her: the straight horizon, the feeling of the sun, the movement of birds’ wings and the shapes she sees in the wheat.One day, Agnes’s family moves to a house in a big city. The straight horizon and wheat fields are gone, but Agnes continues to draw what she sees and feels around her. No one except her grandfather understands what she is trying to capture — not her mother, who asks, “Where are you, Agnes?” when she sees her daughter engrossed in her drawing; nor her siblings, who think her art is ugly. Still, Agnes keeps trying to capture what she sees inside her mind.Agnes Martin grew up to become a famous abstract expressionist artist. Tessa McWatt has written a beautiful story of Agnes’s childhood and how it might have shaped her adult work. Zuzanna Celej’s watercolors adeptly capture Agnes’s world, including hints of the grid paintings that she was later known for, against the backdrop of prairie and city landscapes.Includes an author’s note with more information about Agnes Martin’s life and the inspiration behind this story.Key Text Featuresauthor's noteart historyCorrelates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Four strangers from around the world arrive in India for a wedding. Together, they climb a mountain — but will they see the same thing from the top?Londoner Reema, who left India before she could speak, is searching for a sign that will help her make a life-changing decision. In pensioner Jackson’s suitcase is something he must let go of, but is he strong enough?Together with two unlikely companions, they take a road trip up a mountain deep in the Himalayas, heading for the snow line, where the ice begins. But even standing in the same place, surrounded by magnificent views, they see things differently.As they ascend higher and higher, they must learn to cross the lines that divide them.

NON-FICTION WINNER OF THE OCM BOCAS PRIZE FOR CARIBBEAN LITERATURE AND A FINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS’ TRUST PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONWhat does it mean to belong?All her life, Tessa McWatt has been asked, ‘What are you?’ Born in Guyana to a family with Scottish, African, French, Chinese, Indian, Portuguese, and Native American heritage, she grew up in a white suburb, out of place, longing to fit in. As an adult, she moved to the UK, still pursued by questions about her identity. In this deeply personal reckoning with race and belonging, Tessa interweaves her own experiences as a mixed-race woman with a stark and unvarnished history of slavery and indenture, as well as observations on literature and popular culture. This powerful memoir of being mixed race in a predominantly white society is a necessary exploration of who and what we truly are.