#12: Ashley Bryan and Arree Chung 2016

Episode #12 of Rewrite Radio features a stirring conversation between two writers who also illustrate books for children. Arree Chung, best known for his book NINJA!, first met Ashley Bryan at a conference almost ten years ago when he was still an aspiring author. Then as now, Ashley Bryan was a living legend in the literary world. At the age of 19 he was drafted out of art school and into a segregated army during World War II. He survived in part by drawing, stowing supplies in his gas mask when necessary. After the war, Ashley completed his art degree, studied philosophy and literature at Columbia University on the GI Bill, and then went to Europe on a Fulbright scholarship, seeking to understand why humans choose war.

Ashley would eventually become the first African American to publish a book he both wrote and illustrated, and would go on to publish more than 50 books and win numerous awards including the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions award. Throughout the United States and Africa, libraries, children’s rooms, and literary festivals are named for Ashley. But as nice as these honors are, Ashley says it’s the joy of creation and the excitement he sees in children’s eyes, that delight him most.

Many thanks to Arree Chung and Ashley Bryan. You can learn more about Arree’s work at http://arree.com/. The Ashley Bryan Center was created in 2013 to “preserve, celebrate and share broadly Ashley’s work and his joy of discovery, invention, learning and community." You can read all about Ashley’s amazing life story, and see his artwork, at https://ashleybryancenter.org/.