Paye, Won-Ldy

Personal

Born in Tapita, Liberia; immigrated to United States, 1990. Education: Completed college.

Addresses

Home and office—396 W. Preston St., Hartford, CT 06114. E-mail—wonldy@wonldypaye.com.

Career

Artist, drummer, performer, and writer. Tlo-Tlo Artists Workshop, Liberia, founder, c. 1980s; University of Washington, Seattle, instructor in storytelling and African dance, c. 1990s. Exhibitions: Paintings exhibited in galleries in CT, CA, and elsewhere in the United States.

Awards, Honors

Charlotte Zolotow Award, 2004, for Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile.

Writings

(Reteller, with Margaret H. Lippert) Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia, illustrated by Ashley Bryan, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 1998.

(Reteller, with Margaret H. Lippert) Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia, illustrated by Julie Paschkis, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2002.

(Reteller, with Margaret H. Lippert) Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile, illustrated by Julie Paschkis, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003.

(Reteller, with Margaret H. Lippert) The Talking Vegetables, illustrated by Julie Paschkis, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2006.

Sidelights

Won-Ldy Paye is a Liberian-born artist and performer who works to bring the stories and traditions of his native Africa to an English-speaking audience. Along with performing drumming and storytelling, Paye retells Liberian folk tales in children's picture books such as Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile and The Talking Vegetables. He is also a painter, and many of his works hang in private collections in California and throughout the East Coast. The costumes Paye wears when performing his stories incorporate garments he has stitched and dyed himself utilizing the Dan, or traditional Liberian, style.

Paye grew up in Tapita, Liberia in a family of traditional storytellers, called tlo ker mehn, or "people who play story" in the Dan language. Though he worked alongside his family in their rice fields and vegetable gardens, he was also trained in the art of storytelling by his grandmother, who taught him traditional Dan music, wood carving, mask making, instrument making, fabric dyeing, mural painting, and dancing. As an adult, Paye worked in Liberian theater, and founded the Tlo-Tlo Artists Workshop, which became the fourth-largest theater company in Liberia, to train young storytellers. In 1990, Paye moved to the United States, working as a storyteller and teaching African drumming and dance at the University of Washington in Seattle.

It was in Seattle that Paye first collaborated with Margaret H. Lippert on the children's collection Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia. The book features several tales that find a lazy spider scheming to make situations turn out the best for him. Other tales focus on how the world came to be the way it is, and still others include morals to be learned. Denia Hester, writing in Booklist, noted that readers familiar with African folklore may be familiar with many of the themes, and that the collection includes "rousing tales for new readers and the initiated."

Lippert and Paye collaborated on the picture book Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia, a creation story about how humans came to be. The tale begins with head, body, and legs all existing on their own; eventually all the parts of the body get together to make a single person. "The graceful, spare text pauses in just the right places for comic effect," Gillian Engberg in Booklist. Noting the theme of cooperation in the story, a Publishers Weekly critic wrote that Paye's "attractive volume delivers its upbeat message with intelligence and humor." Lauren Adams, in a Horn Book review, noted that the coauthors' "message is clear but takes second place to the[ir] strange and silly tale." Susan Hepler recommended Head, Body, Legs as "a good tale to add to the storytelling repertoire" in her School Library Journal review.

In Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile Mrs. Chicken is captured by a hungry crocodile and must escape by using her wits. The crocodile, none too savvy, is taken in by the hen's clever plans, and Mrs. Chicken manages to escape. "Story-hour audiences will enjoy being in on Mrs. Chicken's egg-swapping trick," wrote Kitty Flynn in a review for Horn Book. "Readers young and old will cluck with delight," a Publishers Weekly critic added of the tale. Susan Oliver, noting that Paye also includes the same story in his book Why Leopard Has Spots, felt that "this newly illustrated version is perfect for a younger audience."

Like Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile, The Talking Vegetables also appeared in Why Leopard Has Spots. In the tale, coauthored with Lippert, Spider wants to have nothing to do with the work required at harvest time. When the lazy arachnid expects to be given a share equal to those who worked to bring in the harvest, the other animals drive him away, and as a result Spider must eat his rice without any flavoring. "There's no explicit moral, but the point's not going to escape many readers," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor, who suggested pairing Paye's tale with a retelling of "The Little Red Hen" for a story-hour treat. Susan Scheps, writing in School Library Journal, also recommended The Talking Vegetables as a read aloud, writing that Paye and Lippert's "simple but solid moralistic tale will delight youngsters."

In 2004, Paye moved from the west coast to Connecticut, where he continues to promote Liberian culture. "In our villages, music, dance, and storytelling are all integral parts of our daily lives," he wrote on his home page. "It is our hope that through these unique and exciting performances, our audiences will satisfy the universal need for laughter and spirituality."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1998, Denia Hester, review of Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia, p. 117; August, 2002, Gillian Engberg, review of Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia, p. 1968.

Horn Book, May-June, 2002, Lauren Adams, review of Head, Body, Legs, p. 340; May-June, 2003, Kitty Flynn, review of Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile, p. 361.

Instructor, April, 2003, Judy Freeman, review of Head, Body, Legs, p. 55.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2006, review of The Talking Vegetables, p. 963.

New York Times Book Review, September 29, 2002, review of Head, Body, Legs, p. 26.

Publishers Weekly, April 1, 2002, review of Head, Body, Legs, p. 82; April 14, 2003, review of Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile, p. 69.

School Library Journal, April, 2002, Susan Helper, review of Head, Body, Legs, p. 140; July, 2003, Susan Oliver, review of Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile, p. 116; June, 2005, Steven Engelfried, review of Head, Body, Legs, p. 56; November, 2006, Susan Scheps, review of The Talking Vegetables, p. 122.

ONLINE

Seattle Art Museum Web site,http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/ (November 22, 2007), profile of Paye.

State of Connecticut Heritage Arts Web site,http://www.ct.gov/cct/cwp/ (November 22, 2007), profile of Paye.

Story Power Web site,http://www.storypower.net/ (November 22, 2007), profile of Paye.

Won-Ldy Paye Home Page,http://www.wonldypaye.com (November 16, 2007).