Ripening Time, Patrice Gopo’s new picture book, is all about anticipation. The central character in the story is a little girl who loves eating the fried plantains that her mother prepares, but before the plantains can be fried, they need to ripen first. The story traces this entire process, from purchasing the unripe plantains at the grocery story, to putting the plantains in a hanging basket where they can ripen over the course of a week, to watching the plantains gradually turn from green to yellow, to finally slicing, frying and serving the plantains much to the girl’s delight.
For Patrice, the process of seeing this book through to publication also involved experiencing a series of stages, from recalling a childhood memory, to writing an initial draft, to rewriting the text multiple times, to waiting for the illustrator (Carlos Vélez Aguilera) to complete the pictures, to working with the publisher as the book went into production, to the launching of the book. Patrice and her many fans have waited a long time for the release of the book, but the waiting is over. The book is launched and ready to be enjoyed.
I contacted Patrice and asked her for more information about how she came to write Ripening Time. Here is what she sent to me:
In my experience, the stories I write—essays or picture books—often have layers of emergence. The beginnings may come from one time in my life, but the way they take shape and form happens at another time. My second picture book, Ripening Time, is no exception. In Ripening Time, I tell the story of a little girl who is waiting across a week for plantains to ripen. It’s a celebration of food and family and connecting across generations. Every bit of this book is rooted in experiences from my childhood. My parents are Jamaican immigrants, and I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, a place where—at the time—it wasn’t always easy to find plantains. My mother used to go to the grocery store across town in search of plantains, sometimes finding the food we longed to eat. Their presence in our home was always a special treat.
This memory forms the first layer of emergence for Ripening Time. It began during my childhood in Alaska. However, additional layers of emergence needed to happen to make this story a picture book in the world. And those additional layers happened right here in Charlotte. As I mentioned above, I write essays and picture books. In fact, aspects of my essays inspire most of my picture book manuscripts. Probably a decade ago now, I took a writing class with local Charlotte writing teacher Maureen Ryan Griffin. In that class, Maureen gave us a prompt to write a letter to someone. I ended up writing a letter to my sister. That letter blossomed into the essay “Plucked and Planted” in my first essay collection, All the Colors We Will See. At the surface, “Plucked and Planted” is about plantains, but beneath the surface, it is about my sister and me and our varied relationships with our Jamaican heritage. That essay includes a couple of paragraphs where I describe how my mother used to search for plantains, and then we would wait for the plantains to ripen. These paragraphs served as the springboard for the creation of Ripening Time.
For me, taking essays and reimagining them as a picture book takes time. While essays are often “thinking work” happening on the page, picture books are much more grounded in a particular story. With Ripening Time, I was struggling to bring this story to a satisfying conclusion. I ended up applying for and receiving a Charlotte Mecklenburg Arts & Science Council (ASC) Artist Support Grant to work with a picture book writing coach. That move was a game changer for my manuscript, and it moved from a great story with a flat ending to a submission-ready manuscript that soared!
I’m grateful for the rich literary community that exists here in Charlotte—great writing teachers and wonderful organizations that support creatives. I know both of these elements have had an impact on my broader writing life and the emergence of Ripening Time as a picture book in the world!
I would love to see you at my book signing at Park Road Books on May 10 at 10:30am. For more information about this free event, please click on the following link: https://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/book-signing-author-patrice-gopo
For more details and a complete list of book events, please visit my website: https://www.patricegopo.com/
I congratulate Patrice on the publication of Ripening Time. It’s a beautiful story that celebrates family traditions, favorite foods, and the pleasures associated with anticipating something special. Ripening Time is something special, and it’s a welcomed addition to the growing library of picture books by Storied Charlotte authors.