IODE Violet Downey Book Award Winner: An Infidel in Paradise

I'm excited to share the news that my fellow MiG Writer, Susan Laidlaw, has won an award for her first novel, AN INFIDEL IN PARADISE.

AN INFIDEL IN PARADISE won the National Chapter of Canada IODE Violet Downey Book Award. This award is given annually for "the best English language book containing at least 500 words of text (preferably with Canadian content) in any category..."

You can get some insights into why Susan wrote the book, hear her thoughts on winning the award, and listen to her read a little of the story on the IODE website.

For more information about Susan Laidlaw, her other books and her interesting international adventures, visit her website at http://www.sjlaidlaw.com/ or follow her on twitter @SusanLaidlaw1.

Podcast Friday: Summer Reading for Kids

If you're looking for some summer reading for your kids, check out this podcast from CBC radio. It's the Children's Book Panel - Summer 2013, with recommendations for picture books, middle grade and YA books by Ken Setterington and Michele Landsberg.


I was excited to see that one of their YA picks was AN INFIDEL IN PARADISE by Susan Laidlaw, a member of my writing group, the MiG Writers! Ken Setterington referred to it as "a powerful book".

Susan J. Laidlaw: An Infidel in Paradise

Yesterday was the release day for AN INFIDEL IN PARADISE, a YA novel from Tundra Books, written by MiG Writer, Susan J. Laidlaw! Yay, Susan!





Here's the Amazon blurb:

Set in Pakistan, this is the story of a teen girl living with her mother and siblings in a diplomatic compound. As if getting used to another new country and set of customs and friends isn't enough, she must cope with an increasingly tense political situation that becomes dangerous with alarming speed. Her life and those of her sister and brother depend on her resourcefulness and the unexpected help of an enigmatic Muslim classmate.


 

Show More

Show Less

To celebrate the release of her book, I interviewed Susan about her writing and the challenges of writing her book. I'm posting a few exerpts from the interview here to pique your interest. The complete interview is posted over at MiG Writers:

Share a little about how you ended up as a writer.

"I've wanted to be a writer since I was a child. I actually studied journalism for a year but switched to English when I realized I wanted to write fiction."

 

What was the most challenging aspect of writing your book?

"The hardest thing about writing this book was to make Emma, a rotational kid, comprehensible to people who haven't had her experience of moving around. Emma's an angry, alienated and depressed kid, in the throes of culture shock. But just like the hundreds of kids I've worked with, she's going to confront people who don't have the ability to empathize with her situation."

 

"I don't think a reader needs to have experienced Emma's life to identify with her pain. They only need to be capable of empathy and most teens have plenty of that."  

 

 

 Each book I write teaches me something about the world, myself or the process of writing. What did you learn through writing your book?

 

"...when a kid comes into my office, angry or depressed because her parents have moved her yet again, I feel an immediate connection that transcends my usual empathetic response to an unhappy kid. As much as I love moving around, and despite the fact that I willfully subjected my own children to this lifestyle, I feel that child's pain with every fibre of my being. But can I communicate that to a reader in a meaningful way? There's the challenge."

 

For the full interview, check out my post over at MiG Writers: An Interview With Susan J. Laidlaw author of AN INFIDEL IN PARADISE.