Farsighted Fly Girl

It's been a really busy few months with the release of my new book and all the publicity events that go along with a book launch. That's in addition to my usual travel, writing and teaching schedule. So when my friend, photographer, writer and guidebook author Lily Girma , invited me to participate in a writer's blog hop, I was aghast but excited about the chance to delve into my chaotic writing process. I'm honored to join so many talented writers who all provide a snapshot into what their writing process involves and what motivates them to write what they do. Below are my answers to the questions about my writing life and in a few weeks, three writers that I respect and am inspired by and who also happen to hail from some my favorite places in the world--Italy's Angela Corrias , London and Cuba's Mario Lopez-Goicoechea  and Chicago's Maureen Jenkins ,will share their answers. 1. What Am I Writing Now? After an enthralling visit to the Andalusia ...

I mentioned that I had completed writing my book a couple of months ago and it will soon be published on April 8! Exploring Chicago Blues; Inside The Scene Past And Present,  is an accessible guide to Chicago blues history, with suggestions on where to go, who to see and where to eat for an authentic blues experience. I've researched and experienced the varying aspects of Chicago blues culture for several decades, first as part of my heritage and then as a fan and finally as a columnist;I write a monthly blues column called Sweet Home for the Illinois Entertainer . With this book, I take travelers and music fans on a trip to one of my favorite places and cultures. It guides you inside the local blues clubs, helping readers savor the experience of listening to artists like Peaches Staten, above, belt out soulful blues accompanied by her frottoir , or washboard, inside the friendly walls of Rosa's Blues Lounge. I guide travelers through the best soul food spots to sampl...

My travel blogger and author friend and fellow Chi-Town girl Kiratiana Freelon is on a mission. After guiding readers through the riches of multicultural Paris with her book, Kiratiana's Travel Guide to Black Paris , she aims to tackle London's colorful ethnic enclaves with Kiratiana's Travel Guide to Multicultural London.  I have to admit, London is one my favorite cities so I'm a bit biased but I think this is an essential project that needs to happen. Her guide will explore Brixton, Southall, Brick Lane, Dalston and Chinatown and include extensive listings of multicultural festivals and events throughout London. She'll also introduce readers to the food, art and music that define these cultures. But she needs your support to publish the digital book by July 15, in time for the opening  of the Olympic Games.  Please visit her Kickstarter page here  and pledge what you can.  She's very close to her goal. Check out her video that explains the s...

I've been away for awhile, immersed in the vivid details of India. The Indian Himalayan mountain ranges are the loftiest in the world and though I've never witnessed them in person, I feel like I have an idea of what it might be like to scale them.  At 1474 pages, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, is one of the longest novels of the last century and the longest one -volume offering in the English language. It tops War and Peace and Ulysses in length and in the intimidating heft of the tome, which is saying a lot.  A Suitable Boy   is exhaustive in its scope of 50s era Indian life, examining everything from politics and castes, to religion and food.  I feel like I've spent weeks in India, observing ceremonies, talking with families and learning it's complex history and I'm both enlightened and tired from the experience. Set in the early 1950s, shortly after the Partition of India and Pakistan and during the first elections after independence, the novel offers insig...

Julia Alvarez knew exactly the significance of  the history she was tackling when she wrote In the Time of the  Butterflies .  She unearthed the pain and terror of a regime that few outside of the Dominican Republic knew about.  As historical fiction, In the Time of  the Butterflies chronicles the oppression of  Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo's 31-year-reign as well as the details of daily life for the  revolutionary Mirabel sisters.  The story doesn't just document history but it connects readers to the legends of the Mirabels, also known by their underground code name "The Butterflies," revealing their legitimate place in world history. I read this book with a firm knowlege of its importance but I have to admit, I wasn't all that eager to delve into Trujillo's cruel world and the Mirabel's suffering. The Time of the Butterflies is not a quick, breezy read.  It flashes between the three sisters, Minerva, Patria and Mar...

Generally, I'm not a huge fan of graphic novels. As a writer, I develop a very personal relationship with every book I read and graphic novels never seem to exhibit enough depth for me to want to sustain a relationship. Well there's always exceptions to every rule and Aya , written by Marguerite Abouet and illustrated by Clement Oubrerie, is that magical exception. Whimsically drawn with watercolor hues, the book literally called to me in a crowded bookstore. Once I picked it up, it was over. I kick-started a relationship with Aya, a smart, 19-year-old living in the Ivory Coast circa 1978. That was the time of the charismatic president, Houphouet-Boigny's 30-year leadership of a prosperous, forward moving Ivory Coast. Such was the elegance and creativity of the country's capitol, Abidjan, it was dubbed "Paris of West Africa." I have read and heard stories about this glamorous era but it's a vivid reality for me on the pages of Aya . Aya lives in Yopougon, ...

There's a good reason why Brazilian author Jorge Amado's books have been adapted into countless TV shows, plays and films. All of his books pop with vivid imagery, excitement and humor. And of course, because we're dealing with Brazilian culture here, heaping doses of sensuality seep through the pages. As I explained in an earlier post about Amado , he was the author most recommended to me when I was in Brazil. I devoured his most famous novel, Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon but I couldn't stop there. Once you visit Bahia, you never want to leave so I read Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands next. The title and the cover give helpful hints about the book's tone. Yes, we're exploring a woman's relationship with her two husbands and yes it's a little kinky. Dona Flor is a classic, voluptuous beauty who turns down her shrewish mother's attempts to set her up in a profitable marriage and marries the man she loves. That would be Vadinho, a smooth, gambling, ...

Caribbean culture brims with nuance. A rural Jamaican patois sounds flatter than a Kingston accent, which doesn't sound as British as a Trinidadian one. Bajan rice and peas typically boast coconut milk, which you'll never find in the same staple prepared in St. Croix. These details never quite translate to the broad, mostly off key caricatures that fill American media. There's a whole lot more to the region than smiling faces, jerk chicken and ganja. Trust me. If you can't travel to the Caribbean and experience the complexities, the next best thing is to read Caribbean literature that captures the richness of a specific island. Geoffrey Philp's Who's Your Daddy and Other Stories not only conjures up the sounds and images of rural Jamaica, it also reflects the Jamaican community in Miami, which is an element that I've never seen portrayed quite so vividly. I found myself enmeshed in the layers of Cuban and Jamaican politics with the riveting story, Joseph...

Literature always provides great insight into a culture. As I've explained before, reading a book by an author representing the destination is an essential part of my travels. Besides Julia Alvarez, Junot D`iaz is the Dominican Republic's most notable author. I snapped up The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao long before it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. I was familiar with Junot's kinetic, brash, writing from his short stories and decided that I would read his first novel on the beach of La Romana. Despite an array of engaging characters, Oscar Wao is not easy-going beach reading. In fact, I would not have been so puzzled and thrown off by Dominican culture if I had read this book before I visited the island. Junot created his first novel to represent the chaos, fragmentation and romantic illusions of the Dominican Republic. Therefore, Oscar Wao is a chaotic and fragmented read, with characters and history and story lines whipping around with the force of the Caribbean s...

I like to explore the world with books as much as I like to actually travel. A well-written narrative can transport you to places that you'd never experience with just superficial details like photos and descriptions. I've been interviewing writers about the criteria they use to select books for Summer reading and it made me think about my own general reading criteria. As a journalist, I'm really drawn to biographies, autobiographies and memoirs more than fiction. There's something about using the facts to entice readers into your world that gets me. It's no coincidence that some of my favorite writers--Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zora Neale Hurston, Hemingway, started out as journalists. So when I glimpsed The House at Sugar Beach , at my local bookstore and saw it was a memoir written by a journalist, it was pretty much a done deal that I would buy it. Now it wasn't only that the author Helene Cooper was a journalist, it was that she was a Liberian journalist chro...

Brazil is a country that brims with culture. Everything from the food (spicy and heavy), the lifestyles,(laid-back) the music (high- spirited) and fashion (full of sexy flair), reflects a uniquely Brazilian perspective. As a writer, one of the rituals I have before traveling to a new country is to read some of its classic literature. Well, me and Portuguese don't get along so I didn't get a chance to find any good Brazilian books before I left. But when I arrived in Salvador, I discovered that Brazil loves the writer Jorge Amado like they love soccer. And that's a whole lot of love. Whenever I asked about Brazilian culture and customs, my guides kept telling me to read Jorge Amado. So I was excited to visit the Jorge Amado Foundation in Pelourinho. It's a museum dedicated to his 32 novels, memoirs and guidebooks. Jorge's books have been translated into 49 languages in 55 countries and all those translated books adorn the walls of the museum. His stories have also be...