INTRO
Jael Richardson is the author of The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Lesson, a Father’s Life, a memoir based on her relationship with her father, CFL quarterback Chuck Ealey which was adapted into a children’s book in 2016. Her debut novel, Gutter Child is a dystopian story of courage and resilience and became an instant bestseller in January 2021. The novel was shortlisted for three Word Awards and was a finalist for the 2021 Amazon First Novel Award. Her most recent title, Because You Are, is a touching picture book written as a letter to her younger self. Richardson holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and lives in Brampton, Ontario where she founded and serves as the Executive Director for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD).
An essay by Richardson about parenting during the pandemic is included in the anthology Good Mom on Paper. Her first short story “Resurrection Sunday” is published in the anthology Changing the Face of Canadian Literature, and her essay “Conception” is part of Room Magazine’s first Women of Colour edition. Excerpts from her first play, my upside down black face, are published in the anthology T-Dot Griots: An Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers.