“For most of my life I felt watery like an ocean, my sense of self disoriented and bottomless, my blackness lost and out of place in a country known for cold winters, covered in whiteness.”
EXCERPT FROM THE STONE THROWER: A DAUGHTER'S LESSONS, A FATHER'S LIFE.
Books
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GUTTER CHILD: A NOVEL
Set in an imagined world in which the most vulnerable are forced to buy their freedom by working off their debt to society, Gutter Child uncovers a nation divided into the privileged Mainland and the policed Gutter. In this world, Elimina Dubois is one of only 100 babies taken from the Gutter and raised in the land of opportunity as part of a social experiment led by the Mainland government.
Gutter Child reveals one young woman’s journey through a fractured world of heartbreaking disadvantages and shocking injustices. Elimina is a modern heroine in an altered but all too recognizable reality who must find the strength within herself to forge her future and defy a system that tries to shape her destiny.
THE STONE THROWER (CHILDREN’S BOOK)
African-American football player Chuck Ealey grew up in a segregated neighborhood of Portsmouth, Ohio. Against all odds, he became an incredible quarterback. But despite his unbeaten record in high school and university, he would never play professional football in the United States.
THE STONE THROWER: A DAUGHTER’S LESSONS, A FATHER’S LIFE
At the age of thirty, Jael Ealey Richardson travelled with her father — former CFL quarterback Chuck Ealey — for the first time to a small town in southern Ohio for his fortieth high school reunion. Knowing very little about her father’s past, Richardson searches for the story behind her father’s move from the projects of Portsmouth, Ohio to Canada’s professional football league in the early 1970s. At the railroad tracks where her father first learned to throw with stones, Jael begins an unexpected journey into her family’s past.
Public Speaking
Jael Richardson presents to audiences of all ages. The dynamic, two-time Toronto District School Board Writer-in-Residence has travelled across Canada, as well as internationally, to present on the craft of writing, and the challenges surrounding history, race, and identity in Canada.
The founder and Executive Director of the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) appears at festivals, writer’s conferences and library events delivering keynotes and facilitating discussions on the importance of diverse Canadian stories and building events with inclusive programming. Topics include: Beyond Diversity: Building Organizations and Programming Events with Radical Inclusion, Transitioning to Virtual Events, Starting a Non-Profit/Charitable Organization and more.
“Our school has had many authors visit our school, but I have never watched one connect so authentically with our kids. Jael’s delivery and passion moved many to tears…The students spoke about her for weeks.”