Although there have been several picture books about hair the last few years, none of them are as glorious as this one.

Sope Martins is a Nigerian author of numerous children’s books including The African Princess, Teju’s Shadow, and The Greatest Animal in the Jungle. She is also a radio broadcaster. Hairstory is her picture book debut in the United States. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

HAIRSTORY is a magnificent picture book all about African hair. It’s sheer poetry with lyrical text all about the amazing child at the center of the story. It’s a nonfiction presentation about a variety of cultures and hairstyles over time and geography. It’s a celebration of hair, community, and history. It’s a clarion call to find pride in yourself, as well as respect for others. And the illustrations are every bit as stunning as the text. I mean, just look at that cover!

Welcome Sope!

Me: For those who might not be familiar with your work, can you give us a brief history of your writing journey? When did you start writing books for children? How has that brought you to this book?

Sope: I’ve been writing for longer than I can remember, but only with the idea of publishing for the past eight years. From the beginning of my writing career as it is now, I’ve always known I was going to write for children—they are THE best audience! And personally, my best book memories are from the books I read in my childhood and adolescence. I wanted to provide those kinds of memories for other people. I started writing specifically for children in 2015 and got my first picture book deal in 2016 for a story called The Greatest Animal in the Jungle. It was a fun adventure about a mouse who didn’t want to be a mouse, and it remains one of the best selling picture books in Nigeria to date.

Over the years, as I honed my craft, I found myself gravitating towards topics and stories that deal with identity, heritage and the stories we tell ourselves about where we come from and why we are here. For me, stories are connection. We may have different stories, but more often than not, we’re connected by the same questions and emotions. Hairstory grew out of this understanding. We all have hair. We all have different stories about it, and what it means to us. Hairstory was a way to touch on that connection and explore just how deep something that seems as ordinary as hair can have so many layers.

Me: This is a glorious combination of poetry and nonfiction matter all about African hair. What gave you the idea to write a picture book like this?

Sope: The idea grew from my love story with my hair, which is a very long one! In a nutshell, I have a lot of hair! It is thick and has its own thoughts about how to be in the world. For a long time, I hated it because it wasn’t manageable. It took many twists and turns, and a particularly bad relaxer (chemical straightening) session to get me to realise that, just like with myself and others, I had to be kind to my hair. From kindness came connection, from connection love, from love curiosity, and from curiosity, Hairstory. Because sharing knowledge is love too.

Me: I love that! There are so many fascinating bits of history and different cultures that you have included here. Can you talk a little bit about your research? How did you find it all? Were there any surprises for you? Did you learn anything new that you didn’t know before?

Sope: The research started locally, with me listening to stories about hair in my culture and investigating that aspect. As my curiosity grew, I wondered what hair was saying in other cultures and countries. Then I started reading books. Emma Dabiri’s Don’t Touch My Hair (published in the USA as Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture) was an amazing resource, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in delving further into this subject. From there, I started cross-referencing journal articles to back up anecdotal evidence and strengthen strands of interest I had picked up here and there. What probably surprised me the most, and was definitely new for me, was the idea that hair, more than skin colour, could be a marker of race and a basis for racial discrimination. I credit Ginetta Candelario’s article “Hair Race-ing: Dominican Beauty Culture and Identity Production” for that.

Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing this story?

Sope: I focused on African tribes because I wanted to show that Africa is not a monolith, but I ended up being surprised by how similar our perceptions of hair are across tribes. Another thing I was pleasantly surprised by was finding tribes where men had the most intricate hair care processes and styles. That was a fun discovery!

Me: There has already been quite a few books written about hair. So much that it might feel as if there is nothing left to explore on the subject. Yet you definitely found new ground to explore and how beautiful it is! What made you want to include so many different bits of history and culture, instead of just telling a fictional story? Why did you want to share this particular book with young readers?

Sope: I think the phrase “there’s nothing new under the sun” can often  be misconstrued. Yes, there’s nothing new under the sun, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to discover. From the same earth, we’ve created or engineered rock paintings, fire, buildings, mobile phones, and now AI. The material hasn’t changed, but our ways of seeing and engaging with it have. It’s the same with stories. No story is ever fully told. We are continually discovering untold aspects or approaches to widely told stories. Hair is something human beings have lived with for 300 millennia. Even a thousand books wouldn’t be able to cover its role in our lives.

I wanted to include these different histories and cultures as a form of connection, a way to say “look, we’re not so different after all.” And I wanted to share this story with my young readers to get them to think about the stories and histories of the everyday things around them.

Me: The illustrations by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu are amazing. The way she plays with color is dazzling! And the details she includes are gob stopping. That picture of the earth goddess just made me stop in my tracks! Do you have any favorite illustrations? Any surprises?

Sope: Briana is one of my favourite visual storytellers! I was so excited when I learned she would be crafting the visual story for this book. The spread of Ilẹ̀, the earth as a goddess, is jaw-droppingly beautiful and one of my favourites. Another is the moment of the three generations of women weaving each other’s hair. And a really special image for me is the dàdà baby, whose hair is in locs. Honestly, if I had the space, I could go through each and every picture and make a case for why that image is my favourite!

Me: I agree! There’s a lot here to love. What advice for other aspiring picture book writers would you give?

Sope: Writing can be an arduous journey, so make it worth your while by writing what moves you. If it moves you, it’ll definitely move others.

That is so true! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today Sope.

Dear readers, this book publishes today! It’s an incredible combination of poetry, history (or hairstory), and love that combines to create an incredible piece of art. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it.