“Poopie Jane,” Roanoke native April Marcell’s first book, is quite a departure for the single mother of seven children whose professional life has been centered around a magazine and TV show (“Bitty”), movies and the theater.
The 2011 Hollins graduate, who teaches in the Norfolk school system, has made 12 feature films and 7 short movies as well as 20 plays (including dramas, comedies and musicals). Her contributions to the stage and screen include writing, acting, directing and producing. She also sings. “Bitty” is her African-American-focused magazine, which has become a television show.
“Poopie Jane,” illustrated by Urusa Zeeshna, is based on experiences of Marcel’s second child, Farrah. It is about a four-year-old girl with a big imagination, says Marcell. Farrah “sees the world as this wonderful place to explore and feels she’s a big part of it. She wants to be her best at everything she does but she finds challenges along the way.”
The book is expected to be ready for order from Amazon by Christmas.
Marcell says she “was inspired to write this because when Farrah was a little girl, she was like a butterfly. Her innocence of the world was incredible. She saw the world just like Poopie and she loved it. She wanted to learn everything about it.
“My best friend, Donna Owens, and I used to have our own book club (just the two of us). We read books together and it was like we were actually in the world of the story. We both had big families and we didn’t have much, but we had books and it was our way of traveling the world. Since then, I’ve wanted to give those precious moments that we cherished back to kids with big imaginations like ours.
“Reading is everything. You can find strength, encouragement, knowledge and growth in books.”
Marcell notes that though this is her first book, “I’ve had it in the works some years back and have just brushed the cobwebs off of it.”
At the moment, she is also working on the feature film “Mama’s Hands,” a story that centers on child abuse in the church; “Signs from God,” a feature film about miracles witnessed by a young boy and “When you Pray,” a movie about a woman caught in challenging situation during the Coronavirus pandemic.”
Marcell’s children have found quite a bit of success, as well. Autumn graduated in journalism from Hampton University; Summer graduated from the Army and is going to school to get her wings to fly. La’Fawn is in pilot school. Farrah and Winter have their own business. Kevine is a miracle, gunshot survivor (shot 7 times) who is raising his daughter. Spring is scheduled to go into the Marines.
About the Writer:
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).
