Draft:Joanne Haynes

Joanne Haynes is an author, film-maker and Creator of LegendizeU . from Trinidad and Tobago.

Biography
A former teacher & lecturer who left the formal system to pursue a career in writing, Haynes has written and published three books, several non-fiction works and written and produced two films. She is driven by a goal of revolution in education, which she does through her LegendizeU Model.

Revolution in Education - LegendizeU: Learning As WE
LegendizeU is a model of indigenous Caribbean-focused learning, inspired and informed by what Haynes calls the ‘Caribbean Brand of Learning’.

The LegendizeU goal is to create spaces of learning in WE Caribbean way.

‘Learning takes place naturally. As Creative Facilitator, I curate spaces that facilitate creativity which facilitate learning. The LegendizeU model ensures learning is fun, incidental, casual, Caribbean-Color’ - Joanne Haynes.

LegendizeU is built around the pillars of the 4 Cs: Curiousity: Because everything begins with us wanting to know something, so that’s the spark of interest. Color-In: Is Representing WE, our Caribbean Self, our space, our being, a recognition of who we are. Creativity: Creativity is the recognition that the Caribbean is a superpower. Consciousness: Is connecting what is in text to how students are viewing life, it’s how we connect what’s being taught in school to our students’ life-reality.

Some of these LegendizeU spaces include the Call for Stories - now reframed to include persons of all ages in the Caribbean Diaspora, the book Sapotee Soil, the film Legends Revisited  , the classroom activity We Planting Seeds on the Sapotee Soil, and a revisionist history on her Philip family (work-in-progress)

New LegendizeU Projects/Papers, are shared on her website.

Works
Novel

•	Walking Macmillan, (2007)

Young & Adult

•	Sapotee Soil (1st Ed.2010, 2nd Ed. 2021, 3rd. Ed. with LegendizeU Concepts, 2024)

Children

•	The Corals’ Tale Kindle, 2013

Inspirational

•	Chicken Soup for the Soul Think Possible Series, ‘Think Outside the Book’

Nonfiction

•	Seeing Ourselves Through the Eyes of Pa Neeza - Literature Conference Presentation, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

•	Legends: Recalling, Recognizing, Modernizing Implications for the Local Curriculum - University of Trinidad and Tobago

•	[https://journals.sta.uwi.edu/ojs/index.php/toutmoun/article/view/8784/7230 We Real Dread! Everybody Is Somebody! Convois] - Joanne Haynes, Zeno Constance, Aiyegoro Ome, Robin Foster, Moderator, Omari Ashby - Tout Moun Caribbean Journal of Cultural Studies, University of the West Indies St. Augustine

•	Sleep Tobago - MaComere Journal of Caribbean Writers and Scholars

•	LegendizeU, The Adventure of Learning - Caribbean Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies

•	A monograph of her Philip family (Work-In-Progress)

Film

•	The Fallen People of the Black Land

•	Legends Revisited

LegendizeU

•	The LegendizeU Project (Tabaquite Secondary)

•	Sapotee Soil

•	LegendizeU - Learning As WE

•	LegendizeU - Sapotee Soil Digital Collection

Awards & Accomplishments
•	Commonwealth Short Story Finalist (excerpt from Walking)

•	Winner, Derek Walcott Children’s Literature Prize (Sapotee Soil)

•	University of Trinidad and Tobago text and public research study on Dialects by the University of Munster (Walking)

•	NALIS Lifetime Award for Literature

•	Cropper Foundation Alumni

•	NALIS, ELSD One Book Many Schools Selection (Sapotee Soil)

•	Film Premiere, Cannes Pan African Film Festival (Legends Revisited)

•	Top 10 Films, Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (Legends Revisited)

•	The LegendizeU Project (Tabaquite Secondary)

•	Ran a successful Call for Stories for 10+ years

•	Adapted winning stories to film in Legends Revisited

•	Featured in The 50 Years of Imaginative Literature of Trinidad and Tobago exhibition by NALIS

•  University of Trinidad and Tobago text for the Course 'Growing Up in the Caribbean', (Walking)