I recently spoke at the Richland County Public Library and was featured in Cola Today!
Hi friend!
This past week was such a monumental Election week. We’ve been seeing many firsts, many unprecedented victories, even right here in South Carolina. The days leading up to it had me thinking about the importance of serving your local community.
During a social studies lesson with my oldest son, the term community came up a lot. We talked about the people and places in our community, and how all kind of people can contribute to making a community a better place. Since Election Day was around the corner, we also talked about how voting can help make difference in our community, as we have the privilege to vote for people who vow to do that.
As an author, I feel blessed to travel a lot and experience lots of different cultures and cities, some big and some small, some similar and some different (it was in a small barbeque restaurant in Alabama that I learned that pulled pork was a “Carolina thing”, as is mustard based barbecue sauce.)
But my published author journey began with the work and research I did to write a story based on a cemetery in my own hometown. One where I have family members buried, One where the segregation of cemeteries was happening.
One of the reasons I wrote THE FORGOTTEN GIRL, despite being afraid of scary stories myself, was to shed light on little known Black history facts that I learned about right in my hometown.
I recently had the privilege of talking to Cola Today about this: a local, daily newsletter. It felt so good to speak to my local community about the WHY behind what I do, and the local inspiration behind it. You can read it here.
GIRL FROM THE ASHES was set in a local library, inspired by a school visit to a school not too far from me. I had the honor of speaking about my novel at the Richland County Public Library, the very library system I grew up in. As a little girl, I would spent countless hours combing the shelves of the library with my mom and brother, and now, I do the same thing with my husband and boys. To be able to speak at this library as an author was so special. Not just because of my fondness of it, but because I am directly speaking to my community, sharing my research and books, answering their questions, laughing with and supporting them in their own endeavors.
We all want to inspire, and yes, a lot of times that may mean traveling and speaking to big audiences in other cities, states, and countries. It’s a beautiful thing that I am grateful to do and never want to take for granted. But I am just as grateful to speak to the school down the street, or across town.
When I spoke at Wofford University, a beautiful and sweet little girl walked up to me and said she saw herself me, and that I felt very familiar to her. I understood what she meant: among so many things, like her personality and her interests, she is also a Black girl living in South Carolina.
In 2020, when THE FORGOTTEN GIRL was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, I was pregnant with my firstborn and about to give birth. Because of the uncertainty around the pandemic, I chose not to fly to the west coast for the awards ceremony so close to my due date. But I was able to speak to an elementary school down the street. I am so glad I did – the next week? Schools were shutdown for the rest of the year.
Whatever your work is in the world, realize that there is a way to do that work right in your backyard. Whether it is writing about ghost stories, Black history, and hope, or running for office, or teaching, or preaching, or singing. You can start right here, right now. Start with serving and sharing your gifts with your local community.
With love,
India
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