earthreading Africa, English language, Fiction

Mauritius

Silent winds, dry seas by Vinod Busjeet

Silent winds, dry seas was written by Vinod Busjeet in 2021. Set on the tiny island nation of Mauritius, this debut novel follows the life of Vishnu, a descendent of Indian “coolies” – i.e., slaves – who is determined to make a better life for himself through education. Beginning in the 1950’s, Vishnu watches his island home brave the pangs of independence, the turmoil of Cyclone Carol, and the government corruption that almost prevented him from obtaining his dream of an education abroad.

Vinod Busjeet was born in Mauritius, and moved to the United States in 1971 as a student at Wesleyan University. Today, he holds degrees from Wesleyan University, New York University, and Harvard University. Busjeet has held various jobs in “economic development, finance, and diplomacy,” as well as briefly teaching high school on his home island of Mauritius. Silent winds, dry seas is his first novel. He currently lives and works in Washington, D.C.

earthreading Books in a series, Books turned into movies, English language, Europe, Fiction, Mystery

Latvia

With dance shoes in Siberian snows by Sandra Kalniete; translated by Margita Gailitis

With dance shoes in Siberian snows was written by Sandra Kalniete in 2001, and translated into English by Margita Gailitis in 2006. After annexing Latvia at early in World War II, the USSR began deporting Latvian citizens – often families – to Siberia. Both Kalniete’s maternal and paternal grandparents were part of these forced emigrations, along with their children (Kalniete’s parents). Both her grandfathers died shortly after being forcefully deported to Siberia. With dance shoes in Siberian snows is the true story of Kalniete’s family, told through extensive interviews with her family and painstaking research into Soviet archives.

Sandra Kalniete was born in 1952 in Siberia. The daughter of Latvian deportees, Kalniete did not see Latvia until 1957, when her family was finally allowed to return to their home country. As an adult, Kalniete has been extremely active in Latvian politics. After fighting to win Latvia’s freedom from the USSR in 1990, Kalniete was appointed the first post-Soviet deputy foreign minister, and since then has had a number of political appointments, including ambassador to the UN, UNESCO, and France. She has been a member of the European Parliament since 2009. In 2018 she was awarded the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom, which is awarded to “those who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to freedom and democracy and opposition to communism and all other forms of tyranny.” She currently lives and works in Latvia.

earthreading Books in a series, Books turned into movies, English language, Europe, Fiction, Mystery

England

The cuckoo’s calling by Robert Galbraith

The cuckoo’s calling was written by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) in 2013. The first in the Cormoran Strike series, it follows the story of the death of one of London’s best-known supermodels. Officially ruled a suicide by the police, private investigator Cormoran Strike, after reluctantly being hired to investigate the death, soon comes to believe it was murder. With the help of his new secretary, Robin, Cormoran relentlessly searches for the truth – but the truth, it turns out, surprises even him.

Robert Galbraith is the pseudonym used by famous British author JK Rowling. Born in 1965 in England, Rowling is most famous for the Harry Potter series. She began writing The cuckoo’s calling using a pseudonym as a way to “receive totally unvarnished feedback.” Soon after the publication of The cuckoo’s calling, her true identity was revealed, but she has continued to write under the name Robert Galbraith as she continues the Cormoran Strike series, which has also been turned into a TV series. She has won numerous awards, and financially supports three major charities. JK Rowling currently lives in Scotland with her family.

Note: England is part of the United Kingdom, which includes England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

earthreading English language, Fantasy, Fiction, Ghost stories, Juvenile Fiction, North America

Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Elatsoe was written by Darcie Little Badger in 2020. Written for a juvenile audience and set in an alternative America, where ghosts, vampires, and magic are all real, this story follows the story of young Elatsoe, or Ellie, who can bring ghosts back from the realm of the Underworld. After her cousin dies in what she believes to be a homicide, Ellie attempts to use all her ghostly powers to uncover the truth about her cousin’s death – before it’s too late.

Darcie Little Badger is an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas. She has a PhD in oceanography from Texas A&M University. As her debut novel, Elatsoe has received rave reviews from NPR, Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly. She is currently writing a comic series for Marvel, and lives in the United States.

earthreading English language, Fiction, Ghost stories, Horror, North America

Blackfeet Nation

The only good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

The only good Indians was written by Stephen Graham Jones in 2020. It follows the story of four young men, all members of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana (USA). After an ill-advised elk hunt, the four men find themselves hunted by something vengeful, terrifying, and seemingly unstoppable. Unstoppable, that is, until it meets a junior high basketball all-star from the reservation. A cross between Deer Woman and Freddy Krueger, The only good Indians firmly plants Native American legends in a modern setting.

Stephen Graham Jones was born in Texas in 1972. He is a member of the Blackfeet Nation. He has published over twenty works of fiction during his career. Much of his work is considered Horror, and he has won several Horror awards during his writing career. He currently lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado, with his family. The only good Indians is his latest novel, but he has already announced a new novel coming out in summer 2021: My heart is a chainsaw.

earthreading English language, Europe, Fiction

Republic of Ireland

In the forest by Edna O’Brien

In the forest was written by Edna O’Brien in 2002. Inspired by true events, the novel tells the story of a man known as the Kinderschreck – someone who frightens children. A man with a frightening past of his own, the Kinderschreck kidnaps a young mother, her child, and a Roman Catholic priest, taking them deep inside a 10,000 acre of uninhabitated forest known as Cregg Wood. In real life, a mentally ill young man named Brendan O’Donnell kidnapped a young mother, Imelda Riney, and her son Liam, and finally Friar Joe Walsh before murdering them all and burying them in shallow graves inside Cregg Wood.

Edna O’Brien was inspired by these true events to write her novel, In the forest, in 2002. The real murders took place in her birthplace of County Clare, where she was born in 1930. As a writer, her novels were banned by the Roman Catholic Church, and at one point the priest in her hometown publicly burned her books. In later years, however, her fame has taken a more positive turn, with some calling her Ireland’s greatest living writer as she turned 90 this year. She is perhaps best well known for her novel Girl, which tells the story of the 276 schoolgirls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria in 2014. Today, O’Brien still lives and works in the Republic of Ireland, where, despite her advanced age, she says she is planning one more novel.

earthreading Asia, English language, Fiction

Cambodia

In the shadow of the banyan by Vaddey Ratner

In the shadow of the banyan was written by Vaddey Ratner in 2012. Largely based on her life in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime, the novel follows the story of a young girl and her family as they are forced from their homes and forced to labor in the countryside. Suffering from disease, starvation, overwork, and violence, most members of the family perished, leaving only the young girl and her mother as the sole survivors of their once rich and powerful family.

Vaddey Ratner was born in Cambodia in 1970 to the royal House of Sisowath, the Cambodian ruling family. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge forced her family into the countryside, where they were either murdered or forced into hard labor. Vaddey and her mother were the only survivors. In 1981, Vaddey and her mother moved to the United States as refugees. Vaddey currently lives with her family in Washington, D.C.

earthreading Asia, English language, Fiction, Prize Winners

Sri Lanka

Island of a thousand mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera

Island of a thousand mirrors was written by Nayomi Munaweera in 2012. Set in Sri Lanka during its 25-year-long civil war, the novel follows two sides of the conflict: a Sinhala family who eventually flee the violence as immigrants to the United States, and a Tamil family who are caught in the violence. Following the daughters of both families, the novel shows the brutal effect the war has had on both sides of the civil war. Island of a thousand mirrors won the Commonwealth Book Prize for the Asian Region in 2013.

Nayomi Munaweera was born in Sri Lanka in 1973. Her family moved to Nigeria when she was three years old, and then again to the United States when she was a teenager. The author of two novels, Island of a thousand mirrors (2012) and What lies between us (2016), Munaweera currently lives and works in California. Island of a Thousand Mirrors is her first novel.

earthreading Africa, English language, Memoirs and Biographies, Nonfiction, Prize Winners

Sierra Leone

A long way gone by Ishmael Beah

A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier was written by Ishmael Beah in 2007. It is the true story of how Beah – along with thousands of other young boys and teenagers – was kidnapped, given drugs, and forced to fight as soldiers in Sierra Leone’s now infamous civil war. With his family dead and nowhere to go, it would be two years of forced combat before Beah would escape, and then begin his rehabilitation. Beah’s memoir of his time as a child soldier won the 2007 New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Award, the 2008 Christopher Award, and the 2008 Alex Award.

Ishmael Beah was born in 1980 in Sierra Leone. At the age of twelve, his family was murdered and he was forcibly recruited as a child soldier. After two years, he was removed from the army by representatives of UNICEF, along with other underage soldiers fighting alongside him. In 1998, he moved to the United States. Beah is UNICEF’s first Advocate for Children Affected by War, and is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee. Beah currently lives and works in New York City, where he continues to write, as well as advocate for children around the world affected by war.

earthreading Africa, English language, Fiction, Prize Winners

Nigeria

My sister, the serial killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My sister, the serial killer was written by Oyinkan Braithwaite in 2018. Set in the large Nigerian city of Lagos, this novel follows the story of two sisters, Korede and Ayoola. Korede, the oldest sister, is continually cleaning up her younger sister’s messes. But unlike other younger sisters, Ayoola’s messes tend to involve the dead body of young men – usually her dates. As Korede faithfully brings the tools needed to hide all evidence of a murder – including destroying the body – she begins to wonder if she should turn Ayoola over to the police, before she kills again.

Oyinkan Braithwaite was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1988, where she currently still lives and works. My sister, the serial killer is her debut novel, and won the 2019 LA Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, the 2019 Morning News Tournament of Books award, the 2019 Amazon Publishing Reader’s Award for Best Debut Novel, and the 2019 Anthony Award for Best First Novel. The novel was also longlisted for the Man Booker Award for 2019 (the award went instead to Canadian writer Margaret Atwood). It has also been optioned for a film.