Today is my last blog book tour stop for my young adult book Signed, Hopelessly in Love and I'm up north in Maun visiting my friend Val at her fantastic blog Monkeys on the Roof. Here's an excerpt of the interview:
Val: It is wonderful to read a work of fiction that takes you specifically into the lives of young people in Botswana. Although you have touched lightly on some of the bigger issues that they may have to deal with in their young lives – the rest presents them more or less as typical teenagers.
Me: Yes, some kids in Botswana have tough lives. Just like some kids in UK and some kids in America. I tire quickly with the much repeated “sad African tale” and I try my best not to perpetrate it. Not that I ignore our problems in Botswana, I know that they’re there and in many places in my books and short stories I address them. But I want truth. I think we need to be careful to show the truth, the complete truth not the CNN/donor NGO truth. In Botswana we have fun, we love each other, we laugh, we watch TV, we eat cake, we dance, we dream of Prince Charmings, we want to fly to the moon- we live full interesting, loving lives like humans everywhere. It is not all AIDS and poverty and problems. In fact that is just a small part of it really.
Read the rest HERE. Please stop by and leave a comment we'd love to hear from you!!
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