Collections by Michelle Brown WSG Author Children;s Book Author Senyah Haynes

Senyah Haynes is a writer, painter, actress and youth development professional but it is her role as an aunt the has given life to her current project as the author of “Jayla’s Jaunts.” Book series.

As an 18 year-old she traveled to Jamaica and for the first time understood how limited her view had been of the African Diaspora.  This realization put her on the course for learning and sharing this with others, especially youth.

In 2015 she founded Palindrome Global Publishing & Events a small press and events services company in Chicago. Jayla’s Jaunts is published under PGP&E’s imprint for young readers Oak in the Acorn. Jayla’s Jaunts is an exciting adventure series about a fun-loving little girl and her whimsical auntie “Yah-Yah.” Together they travel and explore the culture and history of every place they go. Haynes admits that much of her personality can be found in Jayla’s Auntie Yah-Yah. The series plans to take them to each of the fifty states. In Jayla’s Jaunts: All About Alabama they visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the Tuskegee Airmen, Rosa Parks and more. In Jayla’s Jaunts Adventures in Alaska they bathe themselves in the lights of the Aurora Borealis.

She also co-founded Diasporal Discoveries to expose youth to the diversity of the African Diaspora with the goal of connecting them to various cultures both domestic and abroad. Diasporal Discoveries envisions a student population where youth are aware of self and (for those of the Diaspora) connected to those who share a common history globally. In this vision, youth see themselves through a wider lens, as inheriting a legacy of not only endurance,  but of vibrancy and accomplishment. 

Haynes will be reading from them during a Black History month tour organized by Rainbow Room Publishing in Chicago area venues.