A Hackney educator who survived heart surgery and cancer is honouring national Thank You Teacher Day today by gifting her book to every teacher in Britain.
Former award winning senior deputy head teacher Juliet Coley is giving every teacher in the UK access to the audio or eBook of her memoir 39 Weeks: Life behind the School Gates.
Juliet, who also goes under the author alias of Julz Bremmer, said: “I have decided to gift my as a thank you to workers in a profession who are just amazing, selfless and who have been unsung heroes during the pandemic.”
In 2018, Juliet decided to chronicle her 20 plus years in education following a heart attack and quadruple heart bypass surgery.
She later updated the memoir after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy for bowel cancer.
She said, “I wrote [the book] just in case I did not make it from heart surgery. I had spent over two decades working with children and like many I had made a lot of sacrifices, but as a child of the Windrush generation I felt it important to tell my story which was influenced by my stoic grandparents and Caribbean ‘aunties and uncles’ who had a massive influence on me and my work in education.”
Caribbean Restaurateur, Delroy Dixon who owns ‘Rhythm Kitchen’ in Walthamstow and Westfields in Stratford has known Juliet since he was a teenager and has helped fund the eudio and eBook version of Juliet's book.
Delroy believes the story should be available to all teachers, he said: “I loved the book and Juliet's courage.
"When I heard that she wanted to gift every teacher in the UK with access to an eBook or audio book as a way of saying thank you for their commitment and service, I thought it was a great thing to do.”
Juliet retired from teaching in 2019 and founded BlackJac media which publishes books by young Black authors.
In her 20 years in education, Juliet has won numerous awards and taught Oxbridge graduates, footballers like Emmanuel Frimpong and chicken connoisseur and internet star Elijah Quashie.
Teachers can access a free Audio or eBook copy of 39 Weeks: Life Behind the School Gates from Wednesday 23rd June 2021 by logging onto www.iamjulietcoley.com
To listen to an excerpt from the book click here.
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