Many generations across the globe know of the cunning folk character Anansi. First-time author Farrah Chow Quan is bringing the folk character’s adventures to a new generation of Trinidadians with her book, The Adventures of Anansi and Boisie ABC.
The book helps to teach children their ABCs while also helping to develop their sense of Trinidadian-ness, the US-based Trinidadian said.
One of her reasons for doing this was to give her children, Willa Alexandra and Maximillian Vibes, the chance to experience her culture.
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“Having children changes you and you really want to shape the world around them as best as you can,” she said.
“Back when I had the original idea, not even for me to write a book but to read a book to my kid, I wanted to have some aspect of the folklore, some aspect of the dialect of course, just little bits of nuggets of everything that make up Trinidad and Tobago.
“Seven years ago, there weren’t that many books on the market. Self-publishing was not a thing then and so I could not find any. Then fast forward to having some drinks with my husband, Jason Chow Quan. We were sitting and talking and going through the alphabet and that kind of planted a seed.”
Another driving force was seeing actor, author and storyteller Paul Keens-Douglas’s shows at Queen’s Hall, St Ann's.
“It is one of my fondest memories of primary school and going with my friends. It was fun and something different.”
She also feels like there aren’t fun characters any more like those of her childhood.
“I feel like we do not have that today. Even the Nestle characters. They had these characters like banana, strawberry and peanut punch. They had these characters walking around. I went to Mucurapo Girls and they would come to the school. It was cool. I don’t feel like we have that today,” Chow Quan said.
The covid19 pandemic created the apt conditions for her to get the book done.
Chow Quan – who is also the owner of Carnival Kicks, a Carnival footwear brand – said doing the book, during that time, was a creative outlet for her.
She wrote the book in 2021 and it was published last April. Chow Quan worked with animator, illustrator and graphic designer Daniel Blaize on it.
It was important to feminise the folk character in this age of female empowerment, she said.
[caption id="attachment_964480" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Farrah Chow Quan, left, with animator, illustrator and graphic designer Daniel Blaize. -[/caption]
“Anansi came from a long line of famous spiders. Her grandfather was Anansi, the tricky spider. Her father was also Anansi. She was the first female. Her dad named her Anansi to carry on the lineage. So while she is not as mischievous and tricky. We don’t know, maybe, she is. The adventures have begun so there is more to come,” Chow Quan said.
Some might wonder about copyright and trademark issues with the character.
Chow Quan said there were no copyright issues as it is not copyrighted or trademarked. It is
