Karatu Library Project in Yola, Nigeria

I never knew when I decided to become serious with my writing that it could bring me so much joy, and in ways so totally unforeseen. The process itself is all-consuming and the more I write, the deeper I go, the richer I feel, the more I want to continue writing. And of course, there's been the joy of seeing a story turned into a book. And then, there was the exhilaration of the first readings in New York. Being able to see and hear the reactions of children and adults was an incredible experience. Recently, I discovered yet another aspect of the job, and that is the contact with my young readers in a school context. I mentioned on this blog how gratifying it was to be able to discuss the story and the book with grade-school children, here, in Hyderabad. 

For the past few weeks, I've been very involved in the preparation of a mammoth blog tour. I just had that tiny idea of using my blog to do a mini-tour of a few days, months back, and never imagined it would turn into this marathon. But it's been great fun, thanks to Sarah McGinnis, the publicist at Tilbury House, who is as helpful as she is creative. Well, another unexpected bonus has been all the contacts I've made for that blog tour. Contacts with people who are passionate about books and literacy and the need to bring them to children all over the world. As all global nomads know, one connexion often leads to another which leads to yet another, and all of a sudden, the world seems so small and manageable and such a friendly place, too. 

Martha Speirs is the Library Director of the American University Library in Yola, Nigeria, and she's very involved in The Karatu Library Project. When I sent her an email asking if she would like to participate in the tour, she responded enthusiastically. Karatu will be featured in the blog tour, in November, along with other sustainable libraries project, but in the meantime, I wanted to show a video shot by film students in Yola, during a fundraising event for the Karatu Library, so we could all have a little "taste" of Nigeria beforehand.