Thursday, 15 May 2014

Stories for Sindbad



It all started with a sea shell.

We had gone to a beach in Muscat. We saw a path leading up to a cliff – we followed it. It wasn’t very easy as the cliff was quite crumbly. When we went to the other side of the cliff, we came across a most spectacular sight. There was a tiny white beach hidden between two cliffs. On this isolated beach we saw rounded stones of different colours and amazing seashells. It was a treasure guarded by an army of red crabs who stared at us with bulging eyes. We chose some nice seashells and tried to name them. After we brought them home and washed them, we lay them down to dry.

At night one of the shells started walking. We took it to the beach the next day and it joined its friends. 
This incident inspired the story entitled ‘The Lost Seashell’ in the collection of stories published by Al Roya Publications for their Sindbad Children’s Mobile Library.

...

 I was writing this story in the PDO Club Library when Anne Love came over to have a look. She is the author of books on gardening in the Middle East.

“What are you writing?” Anne asked.

“A story” I replied.

“Is it a children’s story?” she asked.

“Yes” I said.

“Is it set in Oman?” she asked.

“Yes” I answered.

“Would you like to publish it?” she asked.

“Well, I have not thought about that yet. Mostly I just write for pleasure.” 

At that time I had other story ideas bubbling in my head and I was thinking of making a nice collection for private family entertainment. These were stories that had actually ‘happened’ to our family. 

“You must meet Anne Bouji and show her your stories.” Anne Love quickly scribbled Anne Bouji’s contact details on a stick-on note and handed it over to me.

Since I had not been writing for publication, I didn’t contact Anne Bouji for a couple of months.

Then I met Anne Love in the Club library again.

“Have you met Anne Bouji?” she asked.

“Not yet, but soon I will” I promised.

...

Anne Bouji is the Managing Editor of Al Roya Press and Publishing. Anne is in charge of their initiative of starting the Sindbad Children’s Mobile Library. We had helped to raise funds for this project at school and our Anna’s drawing was one of the winning entries at the postcard competition.

Anne welcomed me with open arms at the Al Roya office and showed an immediate interest in the stories. She asked me if Anna would be interested in illustrating them. Anna wanted to help too so she took up the drawing assignment and completed it with a great deal of patience (from both sides - the illustrator's and the publisher's!)

...

Anne Bouji made it all happen.
Last month, Al Roya published these stories in English and Arabic. 
As the stories travel along the roads of Oman with Sindbad Children’s Mobile Library and reach children in small towns, we hope they will enjoy reading them. As expats, it is our gift of love to the children of Oman. We have always received affection and kindness from the Omani people.

See? Anything is possible.