Robin Wilson has done a little bit of everything.
For years, the Detroiter was a teacher at the Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School (FLICS) in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. But in 2021, about a week before her 37th birthday, Wilson suffered an ischemic stroke, which occurs when a vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed. While she did not have many of the typical stroke symptoms, like a drooping face or balance issues, Wilson temporarily lost her ability to speak coherently. After the incident, her perspective shifted. She knew there were some goals she still wanted to accomplish.
“ The reality is, we’re not going to be here forever and I knew that I had certain talents and skills that I wanted to use,” she said.
Wilson decided to pivot toward creating a greeting card business. She first sold her products online and at markets before opening her store Vesey Lane Goods on Detroit’s east side last year.
Wilson is also a children’s author, publishing her first book, “Mama Got Rhythm and Daddy Got Rhyme,” in 2009. Last month, she released her latest book, “Jazz-A-Bet: An Original Jazz Alphabet.” The poetic, bilingual picture book, written in English and Portuguese, celebrates Black historical jazz musicians and culture.
I talked to Wilson about the inspiration behind “Jazz-A-Bet” and how she became interested in writing children’s literature.
Editor’s note: This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.
BridgeDetroit: What was the inspiration for “Jazz-A-Bet?”
Wilson: Four years ago, when I was teaching in an elementary school classroom – I’m a former DPSCD teacher – I was asked by one of my colleagues if I was interested in applying for a Fulbright Hays fellowship to Brazil. I knew they spoke Portuguese in Brazil, and I didn’t know Portuguese. So, she said to me, “That’s OK, because if you’re accepted, they teach you and prepare you before you go on the trip to Brazil.” In my application, my project proposal was research around children’s literature and representation in an Afro-Brazilian context. I was not familiar with the different artists, illustrators and authors of Afro descent in Brazil and I wanted to find out more about their work and how I could replicate some of what I was able to ascertain from my research in DPSCD by creating bilingual texts for the elementary school grades and creating lesson plans to go with them. While I did complete that project when I was there, I ultimately became connected to other artists and poets since we were there (in Brazil) for a month.
While I was at an open mic night, a program guide for our program said, “You should talk to my daughter because her daughter and son-in-law are editors of (Brazilian publishing company) Ogum’s Press. When I got back to the United States, I sent them not only the manuscript for “Jazz-A-Bet” but an audio recording of me performing the poem. Both of them (Ogum Press founders Mel Adún and Guellwaar Adún) are poets, so they instantly understood it.
BridgeDetroit: What was it like being a part of that fellowship and learning Portuguese?
Wilson: It definitely takes time. I’ll tell people, I’m still learning. We had several months before we went on the trip to Brazil to learn the basics to navigate the city. I was able to do that by the time we got there. Whenever you’re learning any language, when you can be immersed in the culture, it helps because it forces you to use it. But I would say what was even more profound for me was being able to learn about Afro-Brazilian culture and the history of the spaces that we were occupying while we were there. It may not be easy to speak another language, especially one that you just started to learn, but as long as you’re trying, it at least shows goodwill to the other people around you that you care.
BridgeDetroit: How long did it take you to write the book?
Wilson: It took three years for it to be published and part of that’s because we needed to have the illustrations. My publisher picked the illustrator for my book and her name is Rebecca Silva and she is an Afro-Brazilian illustrator. I knew that she was well-respected because she’s done a lot of illustrations for children’s books in Brazil, and I had a chance to meet her last year. Also, the printing took time, because even though the books are now here in the United States, they were printed in Brazil. It took about a month for the books to arrive here from Brazil, but it was worth it.
The translation of the text also took time. I spent a couple of hours on Zoom meetings with my publisher because when we talk about language, there are these nuances and there’s certain language that is used in the book that I had to explain so that the translator could translate it accurately. For example, music doesn’t emanate from popsicle trucks or ice cream trucks in Brazil. They do have ice cream trucks in Brazil, but they don’t make music like they do here. They learned something from me, but I also learned a lot from our conversations.
BridgeDetroit: What made you interested in writing children’s books?
Wilson: I’ve always been a storyteller. I grew up in a multi-generational family where I not only knew my grandparents, but I knew my great-grandparents, so I spent a lot of time around older people. And they would tell us stories. Then I had a huge imagination as a child, and if an adult would listen to me, I would tell them my stories. When I got to high school, that’s really when I started writing poetry. I was a part of my church youth group, and I started to perform spoken word poems that I had written and people started telling me, “Oh, that’s really good. You should continue to write.”
By the time I reached college, I had started writing for my student newspaper. During that time, I thought I wanted to go into journalism, so I got an internship where I was writing for The New Citizens Press in Lansing. The first story that I chose to write about was on the Detroit Jazz Festival. The research that I did to write that article really inspired me to write what would become my first children’s book. As a children’s author, I think that’s one of the reasons why I started there was because storytelling is a way of imparting knowledge. You can enjoy a story and be entertained, but you can also be educated through it.
BridgeDetroit: Is that how you got into jazz, when you were in college?
Wilson: My father was a jazz head. And my parents were baby boomers — everything from Motown to jazz to gospel, I heard it in our household. One of the things that my father and I would do together when we rode in the car was listen to jazz, and my father had a recording studio in our basement.
BridgeDetroit: Where can people find “Jazz-A-Bet?”
Wilson: People can find it at Vesey Lane Goods and editoraogums.com. We’re still walking through the process for “Jazz-A-Bet: An Original Jazz Alphabet” so that it can be purchased at major bookstores here in the United States. Next Chapter Books (in East English Village) carries my first children’s book and they’re getting ready to carry “Jazz-A-Bet.” I’ll be there for an event on June 14.
As always, have a great week!
Cheers,
Micah
313 Scene
- Nonprofit Black Leaders Detroit is kicking off its fifth annual Ride for Equity on May 31 with a new and much longer route–a 1,645-mile cycling journey from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to New York City. The ride will honor Black Wall Street, a Black business mecca created at the turn of the 20th century in Tulsa’s Greenwood District. Registration fees for the ride will go toward funding for Black entrepreneurs in Detroit.
- Our Nushrat Rahman, along with Detroit Free Press reporters Eric Guzman and Beki San Martin, wrote about Sunday’s Cinco de Mayo parade in Southwest Detroit. Despite the recent immigration crackdowns from the Trump administration, the show went on.
- Detroiter Allen Love launched Love’s Custard Pies in 2008 with his late wife Donnie Love and, over the past 17 years, has built a customer base nationwide – even appearing on two of chef Andrew Zimmern’s Travel Channel: “Bizarre Foods America” and “The Zimmern List.” Love and his current wife, Erica Love, set up shop at Eastern Market on Saturdays to sell familiar favorites like pecan, chocolate and key lime pies.
- BET+ dramedy “Diarra From Detroit” has been renewed for a second season by the streamer. The series stars and was created by Detroit actress Diarra Kilpatrick. The first season followed Detroit public school teacher Diarra Brickland as she navigated a painful divorce and refused to believe that the man she met through a dating app had ghosted her. Turning amateur sleuth, her search for answers led her to a decades-old mystery involving the Detroit criminal underworld. (Detroit Free Press)
- Local 4 News anchor and reporter Kim DeGiulio is taking on a new role at the station. Starting in June, she will be a full-time host of “Live In the D,” WDIV-TV announced. DeGiulio will join current host Tati Amare, who has been working with various guest hosts for more than two years on the lifestyle program that airs at 11 a.m. weekdays. (Detroit Free Press)
What’s going on in the D?
- “The House of Tarot” is wrapping up its run Saturday inside the former Herman Kiefer Complex, 1151 Taylor St. The interactive art installation features the work of 22 Detroit artists, each offering a unique representation of the Major Arcana cards of the tarot deck. Visitors will receive a tarot reading and set off on an art journey across four floors. Visiting hours are from 5:30-8:30 p.m., Thursday to Saturday.
- Mosaic Youth Theatre is kicking off its latest play, “All Hail!: A Contemporary Retelling of Julius Caesar,” at 7 p.m. Friday at the Detroit Film Theatre inside the Detroit Institute of Arts. Set in a modern-day Detroit high school, this reimagining follows Brutus as he crosses between surreal realities where he and his friends wrestle with loyalty, ambition, and the power struggle. Once admired, Caesar’s growing arrogance drives his peers to conspire against him. Mosaic will perform “All Hail!” again at 7 p.m. Saturday, as well as May 16-18. Tickets are $25 for adults and free for youth ages 18 and under.
- The Historic Indian Village Association is hosting a yard sale from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Nestled between Jefferson Avenue and Mack Avenue on Detroit’s east side, attendees can browse antiques, furniture, kids’ items, home décor, and more.
- Pewabic Pottery is hosting a Mother’s Day event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Moms can enjoy a day of snacks and refreshments, along with music by singer-songwriter Michelle Held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. In addition, guests can build a bouquet for $15 with the purchase of a Pewabic Vase while supplies last, and dessert shop Bon Bon Bon will have gift-wrapped boxes of assorted chocolates for sale.
- Milwaukee Junction’s Tangent Gallery has transformed into the Mos Eisley Cantina from the original “Star Wars” film in time for Space Dive, an immersive event for fans of the iconic space opera. Space Dive’s costumes-mandatory, main events (ages 21 and up only) will be held from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday with all-ages “Family Days” during the daytime. Each event features entertainment, food and bar service with virgin cocktails for the kids. Costumes are optional on Family Days, but encouraged, as there is a costume contest, with prizes sponsored by Vault of Midnight comics. Tickets are $60 for the evening events. Tickets for the “Family Days” can be purchased at the door.
- The Detroit Princess is hosting a Mother’s Day Motown lunch cruise beginning at noon on Sunday. Motown hits will be performed by The Prolifics. The menu will feature a buffet of beef tips with gravy, baked chicken, mashed potatoes, marinated portabella mushrooms with sides of cheese tortellini, steamed vegetables and salad. Tickets are $72 and the boarding time is from 11 a.m. to noon.
