Written in 2018. I’m reading one of Maria Popova’s essays on Brain Pickings and listening to When Rivers Cry by Rwanda singer, Somi. In the essay, Popova quotes Nietzsche , who claimed that heroism is the ability “to face simultaneously one’s greatest suffering and one’s highest hope.” I think about this. I think for a moment about my time in Yonago, Japan. While there two years ago, I fell several times from my bike – grief-stricken, motionless – onto the street. I moved to Japan in...

December 31, 2021 – Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows , a provocative new picture book by Jamaican poet and Chevening Scholar Juleus Ghunta, has been released today by CaribbeanReads, a St. Kitts-based publishing company. The book follows the title character, Rohan Bullkin on his journey from reluctant to enthusiastic reader. Rohan’s reluctance to read is fuelled by Shadows – manifestations of his adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress. He improves his literacy with the guidance...

Despite sharing stories about my traumatic childhood with doctors, there was no mention of a possible connection between my experiences and my health challenges.

First published in the Jamaica Observer Sharon Leach: What is the age range of children you’re targeting to read Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows and do you think this age group can be receptive to these themes? Juleus Ghunta: There are many themes in the book that literate children (5 years and up) will be able to understand on their own: the importance of strong human connections, the power of one's imagination, the value of reading. But as I wrote in the ‘Letter to Grown-ups’ at the front of...

Review of Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows by Jessica King Childhood can be brutal. Some of the authors I admire most have been able to reflect on difficult childhood trauma and create art, holding those experiences up to the light and processing them. In children’s literature, these personal, heartfelt #OwnVoices works tell a difficult story with truth and compassion. Books like this form a vital “mirror” for children in similar circumstances. I received an advance copy of Rohan Bullkin and...

Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows aims to help survivors of ACEs and toxic stress by giving them a medium through which to explore their experiences, particularly their struggles with reading and academic work.

In 2016 the US Embassy and Jamaica’s Child Development Agency (CDA) hosted a series of presentations on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) which were delivered by Dr Nadine Burke–Harris, a leading figure in the global ACEs movement. Despite this promising start and the efforts of a few Jamaican writers and researchers, Jamaica is still in the early stages of exploring how the conceptual framework of ACEs could help us understand and address the links between child abuse and many of our...