Abolition Is Love

by Syrus Marcus Ware and Alannah Fricker

Seven Stories Press

Abolition Is Love

by Syrus Marcus Ware and Alannah Fricker

Seven Stories Press

What can abolition mean for a child? How can it help them dream a different future for their community?

In Abolition is Love, Amelie learns about collective care, mutual aid, and abolitionist ideas as they help their parents get ready for the annual Prisoners’ Justice Day. Amelie explores big concepts like love, justice, and care, and learns how we can build a different world together through the small choices we make every day. They learn to resolve a conflict with their cousin who plays differently than they do, they help their Papa plan a more accessible park for all, and collectively they create a beautiful banner. Amelie is also excited to hold their own candle at the rally, and they look forward to this big kid moment–to join the ranks of activists calling for justice and abolition.  The book explores possibilities for hope, and offers ideas for caring for each other and building communities rooted in social justice and safety for all people. Parents and teachers can engage young readers with the expansive illustrations and prompts that suggest new ways of being in the world together.

Abolition is Love!

Get the Book

This book may also be available at the TIFA Festival Bookstore.

Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware is a Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. Using painting, installation and performance, Syrus explores social justice frameworks and black activist culture. His work has been shown widely across Canada in solo and group shows, and his performance works have been included in local and international festivals. Author of picture book Abolition is Love (Triangle Square, 2023), and illustrator of picture book I Promise (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2019), Syrus holds a PhD from York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, and is Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University.

Read more about Syrus Marcus Ware

Alannah Fricker is an abolitionist community organizer, visual artist, caregiver, harm reduction activist and second-generation settler living in Toronto/Tkaronto. She is a founding member of Students for Harm Reduction, the Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project (TPRP) and the Abolition Coalition, and is actively involved in a wide variety of mutual aid, popular education, direct action and creative arts projects. Alannah is a Registered Social Worker and is currently completing her Master’s of Arts in Social Justice Education with a focus on Black Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.

Read more about Alannah Fricker

To top