Damita Miller-Shanklin

Grovey moved to Austin over
ten years ago. He has been
here long enough that he
considers himself an
Austinite. He started writing in
elementary school. It started
because of an assignment
from his teacher. One of the
greatest teachers was his
third grade teacher, Mrs.
Armstrong. “What always
sticks out to me and what I
always tell people is when
she wanted us to do a
writing assignment about
poetry, she said,” if you like rap, you like poetry. So if you
don’t want to write a poem, write a rap verse. That is the
moment that will always be my turning point.”

Grovey chose to make the transfer into publishing books
when his niece was born. The Adventures of Austin is
inspired by her. He did not want her to grow up how
most of the people in the black community do, which is
to not see themselves ever represented in the books
they read. I said,”let me write this book for my niece so
she will see herself in the book. She sees it. She loves it.
She takes it to school. So now she says that’s her book.”
Grovey releases books, not just for his niece, but for other
kids who want to see themselves also.
Grovey does write adult books as well.

The first book he actually released before the children’s books was a
collection of poetry called My World, My Words,
Confessions of a Cluttered Mind. He did this because he
deals with a lot of stuff just like we all do. But many times
“we don’t like to express our pain, especially in the black
community. You want to act like you’re always strong,
everything is always good. You’re never dealing with any
issues.” He went on to say what he dealt with was his
heart break when he had to deal with losing people
around him and he had his own suicidal thoughts. “I had
to put it out there because if I’m dealing with it,
somebody else is dealing with it.However,they might not
be willing to express themselves or they may feel that
they are alone.” Grovey has made himself an open book
and let other people know they are not alone. He always
hoped that would be the starting point to get people to
open up so they can feel better and seek the help that
they need.

When asked what is the book club? Grovey explained it is
basically anybody who supports any of my projects.
Whether they purchase one or all of my books, they are
members of the book club. He likes to show love to
those who show love to him. So on his website, there is a
dedicated section for the book club and you will see all

of the people who have taken the time out to support his
projects. “I’m grateful for each and every one of them.
That’s why I want them to have their own section.”
Grovey shares his thoughts about the importance of
representation. A lot of times people like to put us in a
corner, they think we’re only one kind of person, that we
only have one story, and they (the people who are in
control) seem to think our stories are not relatable.
“Whether it be relatable to us or relatable to others, I think
we can only tell a certain story in order for other people
to connect with. We all let people know that we tell
multiple stories because we have multiple things going
on. We’re many different people.” says Grovey.

The Global Genius Society is a platform that was created
so that everyone can showcase their talents. Whether
they are a writer, a photographer, a dancer, or an actor,
we all have our different stories. So the Global Genius
Society is just a platform for us to share. In Grovey’s mind,
if you’re able to do anything creative. For example, if
you’re a dancer, and you’re able to dance or you’re able
to choreograph a routine, that’s genius! If you’re a painter
and you’re painting something starting with a blank
canvas, that’s a creative genius to him. Grovey will
receive your submission of your work and there’s no fee
to be on the site.

So what is next for Grovey? He says, “ I am trying to reach
the world. I’m so into music. I like to compare myself to

when rappers put out mixtapes. I think of these books as
my albums or my mixtapes. And I’m putting out as many
as I can because one book or album may reach
somebody that one of them didn’t. So I know all of my
work is not going to be for everybody. But I’m working to
write one thing for everybody in the world. I’m trying to
reach everybody.”

Lastly, Grovey would like people to remember The Global

Genius Society. He doesn’t want people to be afraid to
share what it is that they like to do. Reach out to him if
you write articles. And you haven’t been able to create a
platform, reach out to him, your photographer, whatever
it is. He’s here for that. There is no charge to do it. Let him
know what it is that they are trying to do. If a person just
wants to share their work and get it out there to the
world, reach out to him. As far as his books, Grovey wants
people to know that he is always striving to get better. He
is always striving to tell the stories that haven’t been told
or haven’t been told enough. He’s always trying to paint
us in a positive light. We have seen enough drug users
and people that have been locked up. And that is no
disrespect to anyone who writes that type of content. But
there are other stories that need to be told. And he’s
trying his best to write some of those other stories.

To order books or get in touch with Jacob Grovey to http://www.jacobgrovey.com/