Prize-winning author goes from strength to strength

The second book in a thrilling middle-grade mystery series, Joanna illiams’ latest tale is set in 18th-century London and inspired by real Black British historical gures.

By Joel Campbell

THE LAST time Lifestyle caught up with Joanna T. Williams, the then aspiring author was in the mix to land a Spread The Word Life Writing Prize for her story, Birds Can Be Heard Singing Through Open Windows, a candid piece about her relationship with her mother.

Longlisted with 11 other authors from a variety of backgrounds, Williams was highly commended for her work and landed £500, a writing mentor, and development meetings with an agent and editor.

That was in 2020 and since then she hasn’t looked back. A former primary school teacher, Williams champions reading and writing for pleasure. She brings a wealth of experience as a creative writing facilitator for the British Library and in schools across the UK.

Passionate about the power of representation in stories, the ondoner writes fiction to shine a light on the Black British past and inspire historical curiosity.

Her latest work, The Lizzie And Belle Mysteries – Portraits And Poison, is a result of her own deep dive into letter-writer, composer and abolitionist, Ignatius Sancho.

Pathways

The project was developed by Jasmine Richards at Storymix, who creates pathways for UK BME authors and illustrators into the creation of children’s books.

Williams explains: “It’s amazing, I can’t even believe how much has happened since we last spoke. At that point. I was highly commended for the Spread The Word Life Writing Prize and that piece of writing that I sent in was really the first piece of writing that I had shared publicly and I had just gone into this position of leaving my job, hunkering down and writing, writing, writing, everyday, all day.

“The following year I got together with Jasmine Richards at Storymix. We had met at the

British Library – I’d been running a workshop for some teachers about Ignatius Sancho, this amazing writer and composer, an African man living in London in the 18th century who I had become really fascinated by.

“Jasmine had this idea around him and she runs Storymix, which is a fiction development studio with a focus on creating fictional stories for kids that centre Black and brown characters because as we know there is a lack of that representation in children’s literature, in the history curriculum, on all levels.

“So Storymix was working to address that and she came to me with an idea to write a mystery series based on Ignatius Sancho, so I jumped at the chance.”

The Lizzie And Belle Mysteries – Portraits And Poison is actually Williams’ second book in the series.

This follows on from The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger which was published last June.

A daring mystery series set in vibrant Georgian London, The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries is about friendship, girl power and two enthusiastic detectives Lizzie and Belle.

Lizzie Sancho and Dido Belle are from different worlds. Lizzie lives and works in her family’s tea shop in Westminster, while Belle is an heiress being brought up by her aunt and uncle at grand Kenwood House – but they both share a love of solv- ing mysteries. It’s the summer of 1777, the night of the grand unveiling of Sancho ansfield s family portrait. But soon enough things take a chaotic turn – the painting has been stolen. This theft is only the start, revealing a terrifying secret that haunts the cobbled streets of London. A conspiracy is underway, one that has links to the kidnapping of Lizzie’s friend Mercury.

Inspired by real historical char- acters Dido Belle and Ignatius Sancho, Williams uses her work as an educator and historian to encourage children to explore Black British hidden histories.

The real Elizabeth Sancho and Dido Belle lived in Georgian London. At this time, little was recorded of women’s lives, and even less so of the lives of Black women and girls. Williams helps unearth this past for children in The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries

Ignatius Sancho was a proud African man. Born on a slave ship and an orphan, he was sold to a family of three sisters in Greenwich. He worked his way to independence and freedom, running his own grocery store in Westminster.

Dido Belle was great-niece to

SHINING A LIGHT ON THE PAST:

Joanna T Williams has a wealth of experience in creative writing the Earl of ansfield the ord Chief Justice who was famously involved in two important cases involving slavery, the Somerset case and the Zong massacre case.

Journey

Educating through books is the sweet spot Williams has been working hard for over the past few years and her fervour to be the best she can be is underpinned by the fact she is currently studying for a PHD.

Pleased with the way the book has been received, she highlighted the other areas of value that come from her journey so far.

“One of the best things that I have been able to do as a result of writing these books is to go into schools and run assemblies based on the real history that inspired them,” she enthused.

“I’ve been able to do readings for the kids, hear from them, take questions about the history, hear their responses to the books and do what I really love best, which is to run creative writing workshops.

“So I’ve been going in and working with smaller groups of young people and getting them to write letters in character, getting them to do a bit of drama and theatre themselves and writing.

“Ultimately I feel it’s all about inspiring our young people to write their own stories and find their own voices and think about what they want to put out there into the world.”

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