Dr. Rita Cox (“Auntie Rita” to many), was honored at the Parkdale Library on July 26th.
While she was the Librarian in Parkdale, Rita created an amazing collection of books, which has been renamed the Rita Cox Black and Caribbean Heritage Collection.
An endowment fund set up to protect and maintain the fund – The Rita Cox Endowment Fund – is receiving contributions from the community. Please support this important initiative!
Rita has been an Advisor and supporter of CaribbeanTales from the beginning. She believed in what we were setting out to do before it existed, and said she saw the Audio Books project in particular as an extension of her own work, because of the way it connects oral storytelling and literature.
Like many in her extended family, I remember well as a young person running around the city, helping out with Kumbayah, the annual Storytelling Festival that she ran. All the amazing storytellers that came here from around the world to perform at the Festival blew my mind and gave me a great respect for the power of the oral tradition. And for Auntie Rita.
Born in Trinidad, author and storyteller Rita Cox received the Order of Canada for her active role in promoting storytelling, multicultural education and literacy. Weaving together the oral and written word, Rita opened the magic world of books to her listeners,giving them tools to pursue their hopes and dreams. Rita was Children’s Librarian and head of the Parkdale Branch of the Toronto Public Library.
