The Incredible True Story of an African Princess in Victorian England (1999)

Walter Dean Myers wrote her story in this book at her majesty's request it's our children's book selection this week the author talked with students from the champaign-urbana area in Illinois are you all set good afternoon and welcome to pages for all ages bookstore we're very pleased to have Walter Dean Myers here today and he'll be talking a little bit with you for about 15 minutes on writing and books and they'll be happy to take any questions you might have and then he'll start signing some books for you so I'd like to introduce you to Walter Dean Myers good afternoon oh hi okay all right what a what I do for a living is I write books I've been writing books for 30 years you're about 30 right no not hardly okay so what I'm going to do today is to talk you through one book I'm going to tell you how I got the idea for the book and how I went about writing the book and then open the floor for questions okay so yes thank you hi I have two books one's about a cowboy one's about it about an African princess which book shall I talk about this one all right that's easy Oh once a year I go on vacation to London and when I go to London I go to old bookstores and I buy tons and tons of books and I buy old photographs and a few years ago I went to London and I went to the old bookstore and the man told me it didn't have many books for me but he had these letters and there were 55 letters from a from a young African girl and some were from the Windsor palace and London about this girl fifty five letters about this African girl who lived in 1850 1850 was even before I was born I looked at some of these letters this is an example of one of the letters very strange yes hard to read yes sir yes just very difficult to read what happens this girl would write in one direction and then turn the page and write in a different direction why like no not like a paper well what would happen if she would mail a letter with one page it would be one rate but two pages would be like four times more so it was a cheaper now what about this young girl she had been caught up in the slave trade in West Africa in 1848 18-49 and she had been captured by this King Jizo and giza was going to kill her it was going to have her killed in this ritual slaying an English captain captain Forbes who's a Quaker and he was with the English who are now trying to stop the slave trade came to the homie where Giza was and said but look he tried to stop the killing of a number of people Jesus said no but how about this little girl he said could you can kill a small girl like this of course Giza said yes I can I'm the king here they negotiated and this African King decided to make a gift of this girl to Queen Victoria Forbes took this girl to England now is Queen Victoria the Queen of England going to be interested in a seven-year-old African girl what do you think you wouldn't not you think no but there was one thing about Queen Victoria Queen Victoria had a very unhappy childhood her father died when she was a baby and her mother was this very distant sort of person so perhaps perhaps Queen Victoria was sympathetic to this girl because of that and she decided that she was going to take take an interest in the girl she was going to sponsor her education and she was going to see that she was raised in England and this is the story of Queen Victoria's relationship with this girl now the girl lived in England from the time she was a seven years old except for a few years in which she went back to Africa for education until she was 19 years old when she reached 19 years years old cream Victoria said to her it was time that she did what get home no did married and she said well it's time for her to get married now she had to find a husband and she wanted to find and a black man for her to marry how many black men were in England and it not many not many and so she decided that they would go to West Africa to find one and if now what did the black men have to have he had to have a good reputation because this girl is going to be always connected with Queen Victoria so the man had to have a good reputation what else did he have to have if you're going to marry the Queen's are a job on money and so they found this Nigerian businessman and they said - and he proposed to Sarah he's 40 years old Sarah is 19 what did she say he said bleep she said no way Jose I'm sorry so Queen Victoria decided that what she would do is because this Sarah was living with his family she would move her from her her home and bring her to another place by herself Sarah writes they've moved me to a rat hole I've been to the rat hole it was beautiful it was his beautiful house overlooking the English Channel it was gorgeous place but why does she say was a rat hole like the palace well she was unhappy she was an unhappy being moved should she marry this guy she went back and forth she wrote back to her adopted mother my dearest mama I have been in the state of mental misery and indecision ever since your letter arrived yesterday I shall now and tell you truly what my thoughts and feelings are with regard to mr. Davies that's the man the Queen wants her to marry you remember perhaps when he proposed a year ago I said I could never either love or marry him and I thought it impossible for us to make each other happy she does not want any part of this man why well she's been living in England she's been spending weeks at a time at Windsor palace or at st. James Palace in London and now suddenly they want her to marry an older man what will happen to her she was very very upset very nervous what the book is about is about Sarah's life how how did I get the information about Sarah's life well I have the letters to begin with I hired a researcher to research her education in Sierra Leone I went to England three times I went to every place that Sarah lived this this photograph I got from Windsor palace for Menza palace also I got the Queen's the diary entry the last photograph that I got on this particular oh I went to Church she did marry the guy I went to the church she was married in I went to the town hall and got her marriage certificate the last photograph that I got of Sarah was this lovely photograph I was sitting at my desk for three o'clock in the morning typing into things into the Internet and I typed in African princess and this photograph came up was I happy no I thought someone else had done a book on this girl before me what had happened there was this photograph that was in a collection in Ottawa Canada they didn't know who she was anything about her background but an English collector had just collected these photographs so in return for my giving them information about who who Sarah was they allowed me to use the photograph all of this business collecting the information hiring researchers working on the Internet is the prewriting stage that I do I do all my writing is three steps prewriting writing rewriting all that collecting information is the prewriting in the writing stage I write 10 pages per day and so the book is finished and then the rewrites I spend all of my life either getting ready to write a book in a prewriting stage writing a book or rewriting is that a good life say yes how many think it's a good life how many of you have some doubts put your hand down it's a wonderful life it's a wonderful life when I was at when I was your age how do you ten how do you write yes 11 when I was 10 11 what I wouldn't want it to be was a basketball player either going to be a shooting guard or point guard after that perhaps at night at night then a cowboy way down on the list was author so when I had a chance to write a book about a cowboy I did same thing and the prewriting I did research about cowboy life then the writing then the rewriting that's all I do you have questions you'd like to ask me about either these books or it's better being an easy question right excuse me what day did she die when does she die she died on a Sunday in 1881 on the island of Madeira she had tuberculosis which was fairly common at that time the last letter that I have in this book she she's an optimistic young woman she died young at 39 and her last letter said that she expected to be fully cured within six months as it turned out she died within four give a question which book Eli are those - what which books do you like out of those two that you were talking about which one do I like out of these two I like them both how many of you have hobbies all right now suppose someone paid you to do your hobby would that be good would that be good well when I was young my hobby was writing I see right as a hobby so for years and years I just wrote as a hobby making no money at it and then finally I began to realize that you could you could actually sell stories and what in Arlen would like to go up in Harlem Harlem was my home my mother Livia my family was there my church my school my friends I loved it there was a beautiful warm community and I and I loved it very often people think now that oh it's maybe a dangerous place and not not such a nice place but I I loved it it was basically for me it was home the characters and the outside shot the outside shot is about a guy that plays basketball he played basketball first in Harlem and then he left Harlem and played in the in the Indiana where I played basketball we're in Harlem right but when I came out of Harlem and I played basketball against guys from Illinois and Indiana the game is different the game is different when I played ball its I had the ball stop me sucker in in the Midwest that's more passing there's it's a more team game and I had to relearn basketball so that was the the the idea for the outside shot I have a American to do more picture books I have a picture book coming out about a dog who plays the blues yes I will do more picture books now I live in Jersey City does your boring no it's the most exciting thing in the world look what I'm writing about Cowboys I'm writing about an African princess I mean I write about Harlem I write about basketball it's an exciting life come to my house you'll see the most difficult part of writing getting your exercise right because I I have two skills I have the skill but using the use of language and the other skill is the discipline to sit there every day and do the work and I sit there day in day out day in day out it's it's really a good job if you've reached a point when you're making a living with it nothing is hard in that part when you're trying to make a living everything is hard and one of the BIOS that we read about this event it said that you were a foster child and and I wonder if you can share for my children because they've also been turned their experience and then the world of adoption about how you dealt with your birth family and accepting a new family and the loss issues and what helped you oh that's a very sure but my name is what what's my name no it's not my name is is Walter Milton Myers and I'm a foster child and I was raised by the Dean family and my being raised by this family was never legally consummated right I I was raised by a family in which it was nothing but love and I was a loved child and that was center to my life my my foster father did not read or write my mother read sparingly but what they gave me was a confidence in myself just by being a love child now I had that I had problems I did I had all kinds of problems based upon other factors how I fit within it within my community primarily because I was I was the family the neighborhood reader I was the the kid run two books that gave me problems my family was very poor that gave me problems and I gave them problems in return however eventually I got myself straightened out and looking back at my life trying to figure out what went right and what went wrong I think that I came out as a strong very very strong person based on that one idea I was a loved child any other questions okay um if you look around at pages here you can kind of see who your audiences why did you pick these guys to write so much of your work all right I actually why did I pick these guys what I'm writing about really is the most interesting part of my life and the most interesting part of my life was as a young person now there was a mention of a loss of my original family now I'm not sure how that impacted on me I'm not sure what problem problems I had from that I know I had other problems beside the fact that I had a foster foster home my other problems were I had a major speech problem and I went to speech therapy for 12 years my entire school career I spent in in speech therapy so that that my problems in at this age with with speech with the idea of my turning to books so much made that an interesting aspect of my life any other questions nasty little comments no thank you you're a good audience if anyone would like book sign to bring them up let's get it later in the afternoon Walter Dean Myers spoke about at her majesty's request and his other books to another group of elementary school students from the champaign-urbana area good afternoon all right my name is uh Walter Dean Myers and what do I do I write I write books for young people and this afternoon I'm going to talk to you about one book that I've done and the book is called at her majesty's request an African princess in Victorian England alright now when you write a book how many steps are involved anyone know alright let's try three okay the three steps and the first step is the prewriting process first step is prewriting and in prewriting you do the research you do the outlines you decide what kind of book you're going to write so you do the prewriting and then you do the writing and then what you do what okay you know not reading but bill maybe prewriting writing and so proofreading and rewriting okay so it's prewriting writing and rewriting now if I'm going to do a biography of someone what do I need to find out about that person to write about them okay right but how what do I need to find out where they lived and this young girl was born in Africa but later she lived in England what else do I need to find out about England that's a good question so I bought a lot of books about England and read those books that's part of my research what else do I need to find out when she was born so I found out that at seven years old she had been captured by some people who wanted to hurt her and that was in 1850 so I know she was born in 1843 what else do I need to find out about her as she was born she lived in eight 1800s why is she so famous right now the reason she was so famous I found out was that a captain saved her from being killed but she had a very famous friend and the famous friend was Queen Victoria Queen Victoria the Queen of England the most powerful person in the entire world at the time his screen Queen Victoria and Queen Victoria became this this girl's friend and she sponsored her education and she supported her the world so I need to find out about this girl to write a biography I'm writing about her life yes how many years so does she have how many ways how old she was well I know she would choose born in about 1843 and I know she died when she was 39 years old her name her name I don't know who her African name but she was given an English name she was given the name of Sarah and her second name was Forbes and Forbes was a guy that rescued her and the last name was Boneta and that was the ship of the guy that rescued her he sailed on the ship the Boneta what else I know you people are very smart what is a pretty process she's pretty I bet she's I think she's a very lovely girl about half of the guys in the back there what do you think all right why did I wanted to know why the Queen would sponsor this through this girl's education and what I discovered was that the Queen when the Queen was very young her a father died and she had a very hard life this girl's parents were killed and I believe that because this is why the Queen felt a bond between the two of them so I spent a lot of time getting all this kinds of information together same kinds of information that you're talking about and I spent Oh several years doing this and then I began to write the book and I write with what wrong a computer I write on a computer and every day I write 10 pages is that a lot say yes okay who said no all right I made 10 pages a day and at this this book is 145 pages long I'll write 10 pages a day it takes me how long to write the book whew you quick go on very good very quick all right so in 14 days I had a first draft writing is three steps the prewriting gathering all the information by my writing the first draft then what do I do you see if so you have to edit it I edit and rewrite are you writer yeah you sure yeah okay alright so that's what I do all my lights I spend all my time either researching books writing books or editing and rewriting my ladies to books or this book with what the African says and the other one is about a cowboy named Joshua Loper all right so do you have questions you would like to ask me about oh you don't have no questions okay writing books I've been an author writing books for 32 years I don't have a favorite book really I've three children which is my favorite child I don't like any of them not sure that's not you hurt what kind of books do you like to write I like most I like writing fiction how did you think of your characters well with this with this particular book I choose a real person so I didn't have to think about her but normally I people I meet I meet this young lady over here who's so fast with her math she could be a character in a book I'll remember her she's a quick little lady yes how hard was writing this book it wasn't big it took a long time but it really wasn't hard I really because I enjoy it I enjoy writings so anything that I enjoy I don't think it's hard when well I wrote it in New York and I wrote it in about 1969 I write about basketball sports I write about soldiers anything that interests me I write about are you influenced by any other author i mich luhan's by a lot of other authors I'm influenced by Mark Twain Langston Hughes Gabriela Mistral a number of other authors I joined the army when I was 17 years old I came home with a few bullets in my pocket as a big guy big man right big bullets and my younger brother saw me and he was very much influenced by me he joined the army too and when when he joined the army the war had picked up quite a bit and he went to Vietnam and he was killed to bei first day he arrived in Vietnam and so what that did that filled maybe both sad and gave me feelings of guilt and fallen angels is the resolve my favorite subject in school Jim I think in 1969 that's fun something to do I mean it's definitely cool why do I have to write such a long book how do i ah by the prewriting stage may I talk to you about prewriting very careful planning I plan the books very carefully I'm working on the book now I limit I'm doing prewriting okay and these are all my prewriting notes so this is going to be I do all their prewriting in this book and this is the plan for the book that I'm going to write what how was your writing teacher in high school my writing teacher in high school a woman named Bonnie leave aa very wonderful person you yeah yes Emmy Awards I had 20 25 I've lived a long time man you did do you think it's hard doing on fiction books or nonfiction I'll come back to that question no it was it was something that I enjoyed as a kid something I liked writing as a kid I think it's I think it's harder to write nonfiction because you have you have all those facts you have to take care of and you can't make mistakes primarily I use myself as a model of for Perry and his friend PB was a guy I was in the army with me and the and and the younger brother was the hero too was my brother Sonny yes why do I write brown angels I collect photographs I have like 10,000 photographs at home and I like the old photographs I think they represent a beauty that people don't often see in books of a different book about a different culture no I don't think so I started writing at nine and and I wrote poetry for the first few years and I began writing short stories at around 13 or 14 if that's the I think that's the question written I don't have a favorite book no young lady no isn't it it's work and is it hard I sometimes it's hard but but that doesn't mean it's bad now sometimes it's hard work but I enjoy it who's my favorite author oh I have so many favorite authors like Mark Twain Langston Hughes I've got a dozen see me lady we'll talk about it what experience just being alive I guess uh but I I was in the army so I wrote a book about about the army I played basketball I wrote you know I what about basketball I lived in Harlem I write about Harlem so whatever I do that experience comes into a book that don't like I like them all pretty much I think I like them all yep I still like the books even if they make me mad I like them okay we have time for one more question who hasn't who has not asked asked a question interracial books for children I've seen that they kind of got you started is that an accurate read okay I wrote before the Council on interracial books contest I was writing put in other avenues I wrote for magazines and newspapers so I've been writing for magazines and newspapers for years and I wrote for Quarterly's that was the contest they got me into writing books for children very last question very last question my friend here right how many books I've ever written or published you don't know the difference okay I've written I think I've published about 62 books 63 there's a lot of writing right kill them trees thanks Ally do a good group any books signed if you want to line up here mr. Myers we'll be happy to do that for you Walter Dean Myers is a two-time recipient of the Newbery Medal and has received the Coretta Scott King award five times for his children's books this book and her Majesties request is published by Scholastic books on the web at scholastic comm other books by mr. Myers include Malcolm X and Harlem Book TV goes to Los Angeles next weekend for the annual LA Times Festival of Books our live coverage begins next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern with a panel discussion on writing memoirs participants include Malachy McCourt and Homer Hickam will also bring you a conversation

Channel: Remember This

Views: 224,115

Rating: 4.7442093 out of 5

Keywords: history, gift, kids, west african village, british, sea, queen victoria, england, privilege, education, celebrity

Id: l4r_pUEQRaM

Length: 42min 23sec (2543 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 14 2016