Monica Gunning (born 1930) is a Jamaican American

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

author and poet. Her work deals with both the Caribbean of her childhood and the immigrant experience.

Biography

Gunning was born in Jamaica in 1930. She moved to New York City at age 18. There, she studied at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

. Her first book of poetry for children, ''Not a Copper Penny in Me House: Poems from the Caribbean'', was published in 1993, with illustrations by Frané Lessac. The anthology of 15 poems about Jamaican culture received a commendation from the Américas Awards for children's and young adult literature. Subsequent works included ''Under the Breadfruit Tree: Island Poems'' (1998) and ''America, My New Home'' (2004). Gunning brings her own experience as both a child in Jamaica and a young immigrant to the United States to her work. Her 2004 book about a girl and her mother dealing with

homelessness Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

, ''A Shelter in Our Car'', was developed in collaboration with the Homeless Children's Network in San Francisco. It received a Skipping Stones Honor Award in 2005 and an honorable mention from the

Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award The Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards were literary awards given out each year between 1985 and 2008 by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. (Both the awards and the center sometimes had different variations on ...

s in 2004. ''A Shelter in Our Car'' was adapted into a children's musical by the New York theater company Making Books Sing in 2007. Gunning also holds a master's in education from

Mount St. Mary's College Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles (known as Mount St. Mary's College until January 2015) is a private, Catholic university primarily for women, in Los Angeles, California. Women make up 90 percent of the student body. Founded in 1925 ...

in Los Angeles and has studied at the

University of Guadalajara The University of Guadalajara () is a public university, public research university located in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was originally established in 1586 and officially founded on 12 February 1791 as the Royal and Pontifical University of Gu ...

. She had a long career as an elementary school educator, working for many years as a bilingual teacher in Los Angeles and teaching English as a second language. She was also a training teacher at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

Selected works

*''Not a Copper Penny in Me House'' (1993) *''Under the Breadfruit Tree'' (1998) *''America, My New Home'' (2004) *''A Shelter in Our Car'' (2004)

External links

Monica Gunning at WorldCat

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunning, Monica 1930 births Living people 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Jamaican women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century Jamaican women writers 20th-century American poets 20th-century Jamaican poets American writers of Jamaican descent American women children's writers American children's writers Jamaican children's writers Jamaican women children's writers American women poets Jamaican women poets City College of New York alumni Mount St. Mary's University (Los Angeles) alumni University of Southern California faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Guadalajara alumni American women academics