Former beauty queen shares ‘A Guyanese Christmas’ with young readers
Most people in Guyana might associate the name “Asha Pieters” with pageantry and modelling but that could soon change after her recent foray into writing for children.
Pieters, a former beauty queen, launched her career as a children’s author this year with the release of three books – January’s “Azara – the little princess who loves dresses,” August’s “Azara learns about COVID-19 and the vaccine police,” and the more recent “A Guyanese Christmas.”
For those who may not recall, Pieters was crowned Guyana’s Miss Talented Teen in 2001. She later represented the country at the Miss Teen Caribbean pageant at which she won the Best Talent prize before moving on to win the Miss West Indies title in St. Lucia in 2002. She also copped the Miss Carnival title in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2002 before becoming a flight attendant with regional airline, LIAT.
When she’s not writing, the 38-year-old, who now resides with her husband and daughter in Canada, currently works as a Quality Assurance Specialist at Capital One in Canada. Pieters told Stabroek Weekend that she was inspired to write the most recent book, aimed at children aged three to six, after her daughter, Azara, began quizzing her about Christmas in Guyana. The questions began to flow after Azara had a conversation she had with her grandfather, Gavin Pieters, who lives here.
Pieters noted that her daughter visited Guyana as a toddler, so she was too young to experience a true Guyanese Christmas. While she plans to give her the true Guyanese Christmas experience in the future, she decided to use the book as an opportunity to explain “the different foods that reflect our heritage, the gift exchanges, and the time spent with family and friends”. She noted that sharing the experience with her daughter is important as she wants her to understand where she came from and the influences in her life that made her the woman she has become.
The book has already been shared among students at a school in Canada, which used it as part as their cultural diversity week of activities. Pieters believes that merging her Guyanese heritage with Canadian customs and tradition provides the opportunity for her daughter to grow in
knowledge. She says the book is a perfect Christmas gift for children who wish to learn more about Guyana’s rich
Christmas tradition, especially during this festive time of the year.
“It’s based on my experience growing up as a child. I talked about the masquerade bands, the sounds of the drums and Mother Sally moving her hips to the sounds, stopping traffic, and collecting money. All these things I wrote in the book, and by the end of it I had a map of Guyana, the flag and other illustrations for children to express their artistic side with their crayons and markers,” she said.
The book was released online on November 30, 2021, via Amazon and is available for Guyanese shopping at home at the New Era Book Store in Georgetown.
Pieters’ love for writing developed when she was a student at St. John’s College. She recalls writing short stories and excelling in literature. It was her literature teacher, Kim Cameron, who encouraged her to take her writing skills more seriously but at the time Pieters could not see how her teacher’s belief in her ability would translate into something tangible. “It was very challenging for me. I would just Google things…should I get a publishing house, etc.? Ultimately, I decided to selfpublish. While it’s challenging I would advise people to do their research. If you believe in something, go for it. There is nothing you can’t do once you put your mind to it,” she says.
According to Pieters, she draws inspiration from her daughter. Her first book “Azara – The Little Princess Who Loves Dresses,” which was launched on January 7, 2021, details some of the actual conversations she has had with her daughter from the tender age of three.
“She loves dresses; she wants to put on a dress from the time she wakes up. She likes dresses and shoes and makeup - all that stuff. I just decided to write about the fact that while it is important to dress up, it’s also important to make sure you are smart and educated, and it’s what’s inside that matters most,” she said.
Pieters released her second book, “Azara learns about COVID-19 and the ‘Germ Police’ Vaccine,” in August to help children understand the changes occurring because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She says it took her some time to research information surrounding the virus as she wanted to ensure that children were receiving factual and easy to understand information on the virus.
“It was difficult teaching her why all of a sudden everyone is wearing a mask and why she can’t touch her friends and why she has to wash her hands. She would go to school and hear her friend talking about COVID-19 and I didn’t exactly know how to explain it. I felt if I’m having a problem explaining it then other parents are having the same problem, so I decided to make it fun. I started using the police as the vaccine…it goes into your body and fights off all the germs. I explained why you have to wear a mask, why you have to stand six feet away from someone, what COVID-19 really is, and I really broke it down so that a three-year-old could understand”, she explained.
Pieters eventually dedicated the COVID-19 children’s book to her Guyanese friend, Marvin Pearce, who lost his life to COVID-19 virus back in 2020.
For now, Pieters’ focus is on books for children and she doesn’t appear to have a shortage of ideas. “I am constantly coming up with stories and different topics to write about. I don’t want to put out there what my next one will be yet, but all the stories are true,” she said.
Apart from the New Era Bookstore locally and Amazon, Pieters’ children’s books have been on sale through online retailers Barnes and Noble, Walmart and Target in the United States, while a shipment is already on its way to Guyanese-owned store Yinibini Baby, in Washington, DC. Pieters expressed her thanks for the support received from her parents, Gavin and Naleta Pieters, as well as owner of New Era Bookstore Karen Bacchus-Hinds, for putting her work on the store’s shelves, and her friends Andrea, Pamela, Karen, Ulex and Zina, who continue to encourage her to follow her passion.