The 20th Anniversary of World Book Day

I have only been celebrating this since last year and happy to do so. Not just because I have written a book with a few others in the making but because I am pro-literacy, knowledge, stories and publishing altogether. Books are wonderful, depending on which ones you read of course. Took me by great surprise that it's now in its milestone 20th year and I've only just gotten wind of it but better late than never!

In honour of World Book Day I am happy to share that my poetry book I'm All In just got its 8th fifth star on Amazon! BIG UP!!! And THANK-YOU to the readers who not only took the time to fully read my book but also made the time to endorse it with your wonderful reviews. Thank-you SO MUCH. It pleases me to no end that my poems in my debut collection entertained you so.

So glad to have broken out of film despite that it was my die hard passion, expanded in media (inevitably) to get involved in publishing. Publishing is a whole new world that has been an amazing journey of knowledge and creativity thus far.

The last few books I read were French and Spanish novels which served well for my language learning. However, I do prefer reading factual information for the sake of feeding my brain. Children reading is very important (start as early as possible!) of which I had more patience for at the time. Other than reading fairy tales at home, one of the first books I had to read from school at 6 years old was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, quite a thick book for someone of that age but entertaining enough to get through.

My favourite Authors as a child were Roald Dahl (still have all his books) and Jacqueline Wilson. Wilson made plenty appearances last year and the year before, a couple of which were at the Royal Festival Hall I believe but sadly I was unable to attend. Last year Roald Dahl had a big anniversary being 100 years since his birth, I had to tweet about that as his work contributed a lot to my childhood. We, of course, cannot talk about great Writers without the mention of Shakespeare, not to be predictable or corny as I was always a genuine fan since school.

My favourite play of his till this day is A Midsummer's Night Dream, the lyrics in that are too funny. What a brilliant mind......I do not care for the opinions of others who say that he was a fraud and wrote with a Ghost Writer. "Not tryna hear it." Naturally I joined in the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of his death last year. If only he knew his work would be so influential, famous and transcendent. I have never seen so many adaptations of one person's work! I mean how many times do we need to see or hear of another Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet or Othello??! #Legend

Due to all the anniversary's, deaths and film adaptations of some of the greats I want to read more of writing from the likes of Maya Angelou, P.L. Travers, Rudyard Kipling, Harper Lee and Lewis Carroll. I know some of their names are just pen names but their legacy remains the same. I love that Maya Angelou was successful, praised and made famous before death which is rear. Her death was devastating to me but I was happy to have caught the new documentary of her this week Imagine...Maya Angelou: Still I Rise.

I want to also take this opportunity to say; for all the adults out there who are illiterate and want to or hesitate to learn how to read IT IS NEVER TOO LATE! GO AND LEARN! There is absolutely no need and no excuse to limit yourself to such basic life-skills, when you are in the position of accessibility. Go out and read dammit. DO NOT BE ASHAMED either. There is no shame with self-improvement at any age.

Happy Reading

What I'm Celebrating for World Book Day

First and foremost I am celebrating literacy for World Book Day because it is a life skill that affects everyone. It is imperative to learn how to read, at any age although preferably at a young age. However, you are never too young to learn new things and I have had the pleasure of teaching and assisting people with their reading skills over time.

It breaks my heart when I find out about girls and women that have been ridden of not only education but their basic right to learn how to read due to their gender in certain countries. It vexes me when older illiterate adults in developed countries do not want to know how to read out of ignorance. Like I said it is a life skill, one that has an impact on our daily lives.

Aside from the hard stuff, of course reading is also for pleasure which is what I presume today is all about. Roald Dahl is one of my favourite Writers of all time and I have several of his books so no doubt one of his books was the first I ever bought for pleasure if not a Jacqueline Wilson book. Wilson was also a childhood favourite however, I would still read Roald Dahl today despite that Disney kind of ruined his stories for me. Not all books are meant to be adapted to film. Hollywood studios are ignoring me completely on that one.

Books are big business which is funny because I was told twice that "There's not much money in books" YEAH RIGHT! I am sure that J.K Rowling, Celebrities that have written books especially TV Chefs and all lesser known people that eventually wrote a tell-all for big publishing houses, would beg to differ. Kmt. It all depends on the publishing deal (if any), resources and your audience of course. My point is that, what they were saying is not necessarily true and their standpoint mostly applies to small publishing houses, people with few resources and Author's with low public profiles.
If I haven't said so before what I will say is; much like the music industry not everyone who is creating the work will end up profiting from it but book publishing is still big business I can assure you.

Taking me to my second reason for celebration, as a new Author I am celebrating my debut book. It feels both strange and fantastic to know that my work is now 'a part' of World Book Day being that I'm now published.

I really wish I could post a better picture onto the web but this one still gets my point across and as long as I put my vanity aside it will suffice.

RIP Harper Lee. Lee was a pioneering Author of her day who passed away recently, I had no idea that it was her who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird and with the news of her death I can't keep pushing off the chance to watch the film version on Netflix. I am learning more about her now, reminds me that I also need to finally buy I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (RIP Maya Angelou).

Apparently, David Bowie was an avid reader and that is what he did for leisure. It takes me forever to finish a book although I do love to be in a bookstore. I am not so much of the reader that many people would expect me to be. I love to read poetry (obviously) but even more so I prefer reading frequent short pieces of information and anything that makes me feel instantly intellectually stimulated as opposed to reading fiction hours on end. I just don't have the patience but admire the Writers who compile great stories and worlds of imagination together. Biographies do it for me also but again, I do not have the patience to give it my undivided attention start to finish.

Happy reading people, BIG UP BOOKS & AUTHORS EVERYWHERE!