Emily Joof

Emily Joof moved to Sweden 10 years ago and works as the Global Education Technical Advisor at Save the Children Sweden.
She is an author of children’s books and writes stories with a focus on inclusion and diversity from an afro diasporan perspective.
Emily is represented by the Swedish Publisher Raben & Sjögren and also self publishes some of her titles through her independent publishing house Mbife Books.
Emily is currently doing a part time PhD at Lancaster university in the UK , the focus of her research being on the impact that Children’s Literature can have on fostering inclusions in preschools.
She has a masters in education and international development from University of London institute of Education. And a Bachelors degree in ancient history and social anthropology from University College London.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you always want to do what you’re doing now?

When I was little I wanted to be Diana Ross! the long flowy hair and those magical dresses, by the age of 6, I was convinced I would be some version of her. Deep inside, I secretly wanted to be a singer .

During that time there were a number of civil wars and conflicts that were often on the news, from Rwanda to Bosnia and Kosovo, I was too young to understand everything going on but I did notice people with the blue helmets and the red cross outfits and it was explained to me that in conflicts and crisis there were people whose job it was to come in and try to help . That was when I decided I wanted to work in development.

I followed my ambition to work in development and specialised to working in education. I am incredibly lucky to do what I love at work each and every day.

I never had any ambition to become a writer despite writing my entire life. I have been thinking about why that is, perhaps because there weren’t many writers who looked like me growing up, I am not sure but even today , 6 published titles later, I still struggle to call myself an author.

What does M’Bife mean?

Mbife means ‘I love you’ in Bambara. Bambara is spoken in Mali, West Africa which is where my mum is from. Writing picture books for me was born out of motherhood. With the birth of my children I started sharing stories I grew up with but also making up more stories for them. When I decided to formalise this process, Mbife came to me as the perfect name for this process as it was a love letter to my children.

Why did you feel the need to create inclusive books celebrating the African diaspora?

My desire to create books was a direct response to my children suffering from micro-agressions and being othered as afro swedes. Given my work as an Education Advisor I was well aware about the lack of diverse reading lists, the impact of role models and the effect that books can have on building self esteem and social justice, but it never occurred to me that I was good enough to write books!

I wrote my first Mangoes and Monkeybrread because my daughter asked me to. She wanted to have a book that showed her the Gambia she visited so often. She wanted to see the Kabba, Solomsolom and Ditakh that she had tasted and loved. I looked everywhere and couldnt find such books so I wrote the book for her and then it dawned on me how many other children from the diaspora might enjoy the book. I reached out to my diaspora community and that is how my journey began.

Once I started, the stories just wouldn’t stop tumbling out of me! My stories are told from my voice as an afro-diasporan mother, who grew up as third culture kid. These identities are at the core of me and therefore always reflected in my stories. Inclusion is extremely important to me so within my stories I do my best to challenge gender stereotypes, depict children and people of all abilities, different family constellations, as much as I can. It is really important for picture books to offer a reflection of the world that we live in, they have a powerful role in normalising differences, empowering and inspiring young readers.

The African Diaspora is broad, complex , beautiful and often left out of most narratives. We exist between cultures and have a unique perspective. I want to celebrate that perspective, that sense of belonging to more than once place or culture.

What is inclusive in the book “Ballet with a Heart”?

Ballet with Heart was written because my son who loves ballet, looked through the pages of a number of ballet books and asked me “mummy where is me?”

At the time I had done my best to curate picture books with brown ballerinas for my daughter and even that was hard, trying to find some with a little brown boy was nearly impossible.

With the book I wanted to put both the brother and sister front and center as too often we see children with brown skin in supporting roles. I wanted to show close parenting, parents with different body shapes, different afro hair , tall children, rounder children, children who are differently able. I wanted to include children who were shy and hesitant but also those who are simply passionate and jump in at moments notice.

Ballet with Heart is multilayered with inclusion in the story itself and the brilliant illustrations by Sawyer Cloud, yet it remains a simple story about starting dance class and performing at the christmas show.

Favorite books?

I read everything all the time, hard to pick just a few!

A Thousand Splendid Sun by Khaled Hosseini

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Anything and everything by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Favorite movies?

Anything disney! I am a great big disney nerd.

The Best Man

Love & Basketball

Love Jones

The Fifth Element

Does loving Ru Paul Drag Race count as a movie?!?

One of the happiest moments in your life?

Everytime my kids sneak up on me and say they love me.

Holding my new borns for the first time

Sitting anywhere with my girlfriends just chatting about life.

Who has been the most influential person/people in your life? or Career? and why?

My children 100% because I thought I knew me before but they have made me softer, more patient. They have challenged me and taken me on paths that I never knew I could explore.

But also my parents because they raised me unafraid, the nurtured my insane energy and found a way to show me that I could do anything and most importantly they gave me a strong sense of self, so I have always felt perfectly happy in my own skin.

What inspires you?

Every day people inspire me. In my line of work I meet so many quiet heroes, in their communities. challenging, pushing, surviving, excelling in quiet ways. These people do extraordinary things every day and I am in in awe of that.

I like authors who…

transport me into their world.

I am afraid of being…

alone. Ive learnt with this past year how much I need my people and my community. I am a people person, I need these connections to find balance.

Something you would change in the real world?

Individualism, Racism, Sexism, Classism, Ableism ( and quite a few of the isms actually).

I would change some of our attitudes towards sustaining our planet.

Do you have any goals you still wish to achieve?

I actually never set goals, I take each day as they come and when new ideas pop up I go for them. I am really enjoying writing and have so many scripts now and would love for a publisher or a literary agent to take me on board so I can see more of my stories come to life!