Yay! I made the final cut for a collection!
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
When I read Rita Golden Gelman’s Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World in 2005, I immediately wanted to know more about the fascinating author. Actually, what I really wanted to do right after reading the book was to sell all my stuff, pack a backpack and start living a nomadic life like hers. I had travelled around in South East Asia and Europe for most of 2002 and was very keen on adapting that lifestyle full time. After I calmed down a bit, I logged on to Rita’s website instead of listing all my possessions on Craigslist. What I found is that she’s a fantastic inspiration as well as a fabulous writer. I sent her a note through email and to my surprise she emailed me back with gracious advice about traveling and writing. On the website, I also saw a note about a collaborative travel essay/cookbook project and after some encouragement from my critique group, I sent in a submission. I wrote about my first American Thanksgiving and included the recipe for the chocolate cake I baked for the dinner.
Since then, Rita and Maria Altobelli (who writes about living in Mexico and maintains http://www.mexicoinsmallbytes.com/) selected which essays they liked best, tested all the recipes, found an agent for the project, who then found a publishing house. Today I found out that our editor for Random House’s Crown division picked my essay to be included in the book. The working title of the book is Break Free, Break Bread, Break Rules: Stories and Recipes from the World at Large and should be out next year. All the proceeds, including the advance, will be used for scholarships for vocational education for high school graduates living in the slums of New Delhi.
Today is a very, very happy day.
