Locals can step into the magic of West African mythology this Friday, March 27, when award-winning Boston-based author Lisa Stringfellow visits the Easthampton Public Library Annex. From 4 to 5 p.m., Stringfellow will read from her middle-grade fantasy novel, “Kingdom of Dust,” and share the folktales and global inspirations that shaped her storytelling before taking questions from the audience.
The talk is part of programming sponsored by the Mass Book Awards Speakers Bureau, part of the Massachusetts Center for the Book, which funds events that bring Massachusetts Book Award winners and honorees to schools, libraries and other venues throughout the state.
Emily Prabhaker, the Easthampton Public Library’s youth services supervisor, said via email that she chose Stringfellow for an author visit because the library has a lot of patrons who enjoy books like “Kingdom of Dust.”
“More and more of our readers are looking for middle grade fantasy novels focused on other parts of the world. It’s been such a hit. One parent told me this week that their kid ‘ate it right up,’” Prabhaker said. “The opportunity to be able to invite families to come and meet the book’s creator is a dream come true.”
The book “Kingdom of Dust,” which was inspired by Igbo mythology, is about a young girl named Amara who lives in a desert land named Kun. Once green and thriving, the land withered after its griots vanished — taking the rain provided by the goddess Oala with them. Amara needs to bring
“I was trying to write a fairy tale that had a character that looked like me, and it pulls from a lot of mythology from the Igbo people and culture,” Stringfellow said. “I integrated [the] traditional fairytale structure of the stories that I grew up on, things like Snow White or Rapunzel or Cinderella, but also wove that with the African mythology.”
The book was selected in the Middle Grade/Young Adult Honors category of the Massachusetts Book Awards last year, alongside Desmond Hall’s “Better Must Come.”
Stringfellow grew up in and currently lives in Boston, where she teaches middle school, but she’s looking forward to coming out here because she likes being able to meet new readers.
“I love getting out in the community and being able to meet readers and families, especially in different parts of the state,” she said. “Living in Boston, I don’t often get to do events outside of the metro area, so going to some of these events introduces me to other parts of the state and hopefully other people to my books as well.”
She likes writing middle grade fiction, she said, not only because she wants to create works that suit her own students’ interests and reading levels, but also because as a child, she was a voracious reader.
“I’m filling a gap on the shelf for books that I would have loved when I was a kid,” she said.
“Being able to meet the person who created a book that you loved (or perhaps are yet to read but will love!) is one of life’s gifts,” Prabhaker said. “One time at an author visit, a child in the audience said they were going to take the memory and tuck it in between the pages of the book to save forever. I think of that every time I get the chance to host someone like Lisa now, who has built a story for us all to experience together, and then has given us a face-to-face memory to slip within its pages and remind us how connected all of our stories and lives are.”
Admission to the event is free. For more information about Lisa Stringfellow, visit lisastringfellow.com. To see a listing of other upcoming Mass Book Awards Speakers Bureau events, visit https://www.massbook.org/mba-speakers-bureau-1.
