Banana Me Beautiful

ISBN: 978-1-84991-518-2
Published: 2011
Pages: 54
Key Themes: poetry, prose, empowerment

Description

From humour, to heart wrenching to visually captivating… For anyone interested in poetry it is a must, and anyone interested in the development of a human being, it is fascinating… (Death Rat Fanzine) ‎I found it very moving and inspiring, very beautiful and very brave (Sara Harkins, Executive Editor, CBeebies Scotland)

About the Author

Emily Dodd grew up Derbyshire, England. With a degree in Geophysical Sciences and a Masters in Communicating Science, she is a writer at the shifting boundaries between art and science. Although Emily was first published at age ten, she lacked self esteem after being bullied by an older gang from age five onwards. Emily's journey to find freedom and self-acceptance encourages others to know how wonderful, valuable and unique they are and to look at the world in a new way. Emily has been living in Edinburgh, Scotland since 2005 developing educational workshops, making podcasts and films and writing for Children's BBC.

Book Extract

Forward

This book is a little different.

The thing that makes this book a little different is, it’s a collection of poems and artwork from a child, a teenager and an adult. The child, teenager and adult are all me, the one writing to you now.

I invite you to join me on a journey.

It’s a journey by poetry, art and photography. It’s a journey of ages and stages, Of fascination and fun, Of hope and despair, Death and life.

It’s a journey from Banana Slug to Beautiful Bug.

The journey is in three parts; each part is a time period within which I produced the work. The times I’ve chosen are:

Innocent: Age 9 - 11 Lost and Found: Age 15 – 17 Alive: Age 25 – 28

I hope to offer you insight into my journey as a writer and a person. My writing has changed, yet parts of me will always be the same.

And just to let you know, I’ve put footnotes here and there when I feel context is required. Mostly, they are without annotation or need for explanation.

May you begin at the beginning…