The Six Earth-Goddesses of Coyote’s Soundbite: A Poem for Our Planet

22nd April 2021

“Earth-lovers of the world unite!” Coyote’s Soundbite: A Poem for Our Planet by John Agard and Piet Grobler celebrates Earth and all its creatures. Full of flora, fauna, and animals of all sizes, this poetry picture book dazzles with its colourful illustrations and plucky verses and is the perfect book to read with your kids for Earth Month.

Within its pages, Coyote’s Soundbite introduces six earth-goddesses from across the globe. Each goddess comes from a different culture and shares something unique from that part of their world. These are their stories:

Darana
“she-whose-singing-gave-birth-to-rain”
Country of Origin: Australia

Darana is the chair-goddess of our divine council and leads the charge in Coyote’s Soundbite. In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Darana is the God of Creation. She comes from the beginning of Australia’s mythology, what they call the “dream-time.” Her singing created rain, and she fed the first humans with witchetty grubs from her belly button.

Oduduwa
“Emerging from her calabash of ebony”
Country of Origin: Nigeria

As the chief goddess of the Yoruba people, Oduduwa represents the Earth. She is also the patroness of love. Her name means “She who exists for Herself and to create others.” While Oduduwa represents the Earth, Obatala, her husband, represents the heavens. According to Yoruba mythology, Oduduwa and Obatala were once trapped in a calabash, or bottle gourd.

Kujum Chantu
“who spoke wonders of which legends told”
Country of Origin: India

Kujum Chantu’s story comes from the Apatani Tribe in India. She used to have a body and protected humanity in her belly, until she sacrificed her bodily form to create the Earth. Each of her body parts makes up a part of our Earth. The sun and moon are her eyes, the hills are her bones, and the mountains her head. The humans in her belly became the Apatani Tribe.

Ninam
“from the land of the permafrost
Where folk were used to the igloo for a home”
Country of Origin: Arctic

Ninam, more commonly known as Nunam, is the earth goddess of the Inuit people. She wears a coat up to her knees from which hang living miniatures of animals that roam the Arctic lands. In Inuit mythology, children grew from Ninam’s body like flowers and trees grow from the ground. In Coyote’s Soundbite, Ninam makes a heartfelt appeal for her “home-sweet-home-ice” and for her beloved polar creatures.

Brigid
“keeper of the wells, whose waters spring from the womb of earth”
Country of Origin: Ireland

The keeper of wells and of the hearth, Brigid lives in the forests. She is a Gaelic deity from Ireland whose name means “Exalted One.” In earliest mythology, her name was Breo-Saighit, and she was known as the Flame of Ireland. Now, Ireland knows her as St. Brigid, patroness of livestock and fire.

Panchamama
“live and direct from the Andes where roam the beautiful llama”
Country of Origin: Peru

Panchamama’s story comes from the Incas, the indigenous peoples of the Andes. In Inca mythology, Panchamama is the mother of Earth and time. Like Kujum Chantu, her body is the Earth, creating mountains and causing earthquakes. Panchamama presides over crops and the harvest in Incan culture.

Together, these fearsome goddesses unite to save the Earth and remind human beings of how to care for it. Read Coyote’s Soundbite to learn more about their stories!

Coyote’s Soundbite: A Poem for Our Planet by John Agard and Piet Grobler (Lantana Publishing)

Excitement spreads like bushfire through the jungle. Earth-goddesses are planning a conference! From Australia to Antarctica, the Amazon to Africa, goddesses will debate the burning environmental issues of our times…and bushy-tailed, smooth-talking Coyote wants in on the action! Can this infamous trickster come up with a plan to infiltrate the conference and leave a lasting legacy for our planet? A rip-roaring poem by a master poet, inspired by Earth Day.

Available in all good bookshops from April 22^nd! Or, buy your copy from the Lantana Publishing online shop (www.lantanapublishing.com) and donate a book to children who need them with your purchase.

About the creators:

John Agard, born in Guyana, is a world-renowned poet and performer. He has won numerous awards including the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, the Smarties Award, the Paul Hamlyn Award and the Casa de las Americas Poetry Award.

Piet Grobler is a South African illustrator who has published over 85 books. He has won numerous national and international prizes including a Golden Apple at the Biennale for Illustration, Bratislava (Slovakia), the Children’s Africana Book award (USA), and two Silver medals (1997 and 2003) in the Noma Concours (Japan).

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