At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Antonio Michael Downing!
About the Author:
ANTONIO MICHAEL DOWNING grew up in southern Trinidad, northern Ontario, Scarborough, and Kitchener. He is an author, musician, and public speaker based in Toronto. His 2010 novella, Molasses (Blaurock Press), was published to critical acclaim. In 2017, he was named by the RBC Taylor Prize as one of Canada’s top Emerging Authors for non-fiction. He composes and performs music as John Orpheus.
Fast Five with Antonio Michael Downing:
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
A house on a hill on the beach by the Caribbean Sea.
What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?
Singing a song and playing my guitar – it cures everything!
Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
For breakfast – Trinidadian doubles. Lunch – A mango smoothie. Dinner – Roast chicken and fingerling potatoes.
What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?
Ha! I’ve seen a LOT of concerts so this is HAAARD. I’ll say Sade at the ACC.
How do you deal with your big feelings?
I meditate, read, journal and run every morning which helps me to see them coming when they hit I text my friends and we laugh and laugh and laugh.
Books by Antonio Michael:
Stars in My Crown
Written by Antonio Michael Downing
Illustrated by Richy Sánchez Ayala
48 Pages | Ages 4-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735271128 | Tundra Books
Little Tony is full of love for his grandmother, his home in Trinidad and delicious pholourie. But he’s also full of other big feelings, including anger. His grandmother tries to teach him to be patient – patience is a star in his crown, she says – but it’s hard. He tries to keep his anger in, but when he loses at ping-pong to his brother or he has to come in from playing . . . Yaaarrgh! When Little Tony and his brother move away from their beloved Trinidad, there’s even more for him to be upset about. His new home is cold, full of new people, and there’s no pholourie anywhere! Yaaarrgh! But then he remembers his grandmother’s lessons, and a surprising thing happens . . . A charming and heartwarming story based on the author’s own childhood, Stars In My Crown is an ode to big feelings but even bigger triumphs.
Saga Boy
By Antonio Michael Downing
352 Pages | Paperback
ISBN 9780735237322 | Penguin Canada
Raised by his indomitable grandmother in the lush rainforest of southern Trinidad, Antonio Michael Downing, at age 11, is uprooted to Canada when she dies. He and his older brother are sent to live with his stern, evangelical Aunt Joan, in a tiny northern Ontario community where they are the only Black children in the town. In this wilderness, after a disappointing reunion with his birth parents, he begins his journey as an immigrant minority, using music and performance to dramatically transform himself. He tries to flee his messy family life by morphing into a series of extravagant musical personalities: “Mic Dainjah,” a punk rock rapper, “Molasses,” a soul music crooner and finally “John Orpheus,” a gold chained, sequin- and leather-clad pop star. Yet, like his father and grandfather, he has become a “Saga Boy,” a Trinidadian playboy, addicted to escapism, attention, and sex. When the inevitable crash happens, he finds himself in a cold, stone jail cell, having become everything he was trying to escape. At the heart of his odyssey is the longing for a home. Richly evocative, Saga Boy is a heart-wrenching but uplifting story of a lonely immigrant boy who overcomes adversity and abandonment to reclaim his Black identity and embrace a rich heritage.
