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Tololwa Mollel




Authors’ Booking Service is please to announce the presence of Tololwa Mollel from Edmonton, Alberta, for school visits in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area from May 24 to May 30, 2011.

Tololwa would like to schedule school visits during this time. His rate is $900 for a full day of 4 presentations and $500 for half a day of 2 presentations, and $300 for an individual session.

Tololwa Mollel is a storyteller and an award winning author of sixteen internationally published and translated children’s books, as well as several plays and stories for performance. In Tanzania where he was born and in Edmonton where he lives, Mollel has worked as a university theatre instructor and an actor. Extensive work with schools by Mollel includes author presentations, residencies and workshops on storytelling, writing, and drama. Since 1990, Tololwa has done thousands of presentations in schools across Alberta and Canada and in the U.S.

Here's what a School Librarian in Keeler Elementary in Calgary wrote to Tololwa: “Thank you so much for coming into the school yesterday to share your work with the students. I have heard nothing but accolades and praise about your presentations. You are the first author that I have booked, thank you for making it such a positive experience for me and the school.”

Tololwa is also a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada. Schools that wish to book him may be eligible for a fee subsidy to offset the cost of his visit. Contact us for details about this beneficial program.


Bibliography

  • From Lands of the Night. Forthcoming. Red Deer Press, 2011.

  • A Promise to the Sun. the play. In SPROUTS!: An Anthology of Plays from Concrete Theatre’s Sprouts New Play Festival for Kids, by Playwrights Guild Press, 2010.

  • The Orphan Boy (2nd Edition). Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2009

  • “The Twins and the Monster” ChickaDEE Nov. 2009 Also to be published by Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as a picture book Swahili translation and adaptation by Tololwa.

  • “Feasting on Words: How I Became a Writer for Children.” Published in McGill Journal of Education (Faculty of Education, McGill University), Vol. 36 No. 3 (Fall 2001): 251-60.

  • To Dinner, For Dinner. Holiday House 2000.

  • Subira Subira. Clarion Books 2000.

  • My Rows and Piles of Coins. Clarion Books 1999.

  • Song Bird. Clarion Books 1999.

  • Shadow Dance. Clarion Books 1998.

  • Kitoto the Mighty. Stoddart Publishing Company 1998.

  • Dume's Roar. Stoddart 1997.

  • Ananse's Feast. Clarion Books 1997.

  • Keles Secret. Stoddart 1997.

  • Big Boy. Clarion Books, 1995; Stoddart 1995.

  • The Flying Tortoise. Clarion Books, 1995; Oxford University Press 1994.

  • The Princess Who Lost Her Hair. Troll Books 1992.

  • A Promise to the Sun, the book. Little, Brown & Co. 1992.

  • Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper. Clarion Books 1992; Oxford
     University Press 1991.

  • The Orphan Boy (1st Edition), Clarion Books 1991; Oxford University Press 1990.


Recent Awards and Honours

The Orphan Boy

  • The Governor General's Award

  • Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts

  • Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies

  • Parents' Choice Storybook Award

  • American Booksellers Association (ABA) Pick of the Lists

  • Amelia Howard-Gibbon Award

  • Elizabeth Cleaver Award

  • Canadian Library Association Notable Books List

  • Canadian Children Book Centre (CCBC) Our Choice List (an annual list of 30 best children's books in Canada)

To Dinner, for Dinner

  • Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People

  • Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Book Award

Subira Subira

  • Nominated for the Kansas Reading Association Bill Martin, Jr. Award

My Rows and Piles of Coins

  • Alberta Writers Guild R. Ross Annett Childrens Literature Prize.

  • African Studies Association Children's Africana Award

  • Coretta Scott King Honor Book

  • American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book

  • CCBC Our Choice List (starred selection)

  • ALA list of the year's 10 best African-American books for children

  • Canadian Maclean's Magazine's list of the year's 8 best children's book


Presentations

I’m comfortable presenting to audiences of all ages, from Kindergarten to adults. My presentations include storytelling, with the type and amount of stories in a session to suit grade level. I like to share African stories, some with parallels in other cultures, including well known European and other tales. Prior to a visit, I like to discuss with my hosts details about expectations and adaptation requirements of my presentations for grade levels, curricular and other needs in a school. My presentations for the different grade levels are as follows:


K – Grade 2: I engage younger students with participatory storytelling and interactive exchange, and do brief dramatic demonstration of the writing and publishing process, touching on the role of author, illustrator and publisher. I share with them brief personal stories they can identify with, from my African background, including my introduction into the magical world of books and writing. I also read to them from my books. I schedule a question and answer segment within a session.

Grades 3-4: With this level, I feel comfortable sharing a more detailed talk about the writing process, and to use my books for examples. I share written and oral stories for the students’ enjoyment as well as provide instructive examples about select aspects of the writing process and storytelling.

Grades 5-6: I share excerpts from my books and plays to illustrate to students the demands the writing process places on a writer of fiction, nonfiction and other genres in creating character, developing themes, making use of setting and advancing the plot. I discuss my sources of inspiration and share personal stories concerning my interest in books and writing as I was growing up, and now.

Junior High: With these grade levels, I share my insights into the writing process. I demonstrate samples from my work in progress, comparing early drafts to later ones. Through the samples I show students how I wrestle with beginnings and endings in stories, with scene work and other tasks, and how I struggle for focus, clarity, simplicity and subtlety, among other things, through much revision. I also share with them insights about the writing process and craft by other writers.

Senior High: I share with students brief stories on writers in Canada and elsewhere, contemporary and non-contemporary. I demonstrate some of their struggles with the writing process which was or is not unlike the students’ own struggles, and I share insights on the writing process from these writers. I weave into the discussion my own experience as a writer, sharing samples of my own writing in various stages of revision.. For students interested, I will provide avenues through which they can submit their work for publication. For other students in general, I demonstrate the general basic value of writing in various spheres of life and work.

General Audience: My many years of experience enable me to easily adapt my presentations accordingly when presenting to a general audience of adults or a mixed family audience


Special Equipment: A mike, if necessary; small table; projector screen and power socket with multiple plug points; drinking water; flip chart and markers or small board and chalk.

Book Sales: I won’t have books with me but can provide purchasing information.

Grades I will present to: K – 12.

Maximum number of students per session: 100.

Is this flexible: Yes, I will discuss with a host the idea presenting to a larger group.

Venue I’m comfortable with: Music room, library, or the classroom.
Not in the gym, if it can be avoided.