Boy, Everywhere, page 23
Like many authors, when I first started writing I thought I’d get published easily. (Boy, was I wrong!) They say it takes a village to make a book. I’d say it also takes a village to make a happy, productive writer. One of the best things I did as a novice writer was asking Sheena Dempsey to illustrate my draft picture book. She kindly explained the process and told me that I’d need an agent first; she recommended I join SCBWI and added me to a supportive Facebook group, through which I met the most wonderful, encouraging people, who I am proud to call my friends. I wouldn’t be where I am in this long publishing journey without the following people.
I must start by thanking my incredible critique group who I met in 2015: Nicky Matthews Browne, Sue Wallman, Zena McFadzean, Annabel Harris, Camilla Chester, and Sarah Day. They saw this book develop slowly and read my very worst drafts. Through their patience each month, I learned how to show readers what was in my mind. I adore this phenomenal group of women who are always there for me.
I finished my manuscript because Jo Franklin set up the 29ers, a group to motivate friends to write “THE END” by February 29, 2016 (a leap year). Jo and Nina Oaken encouraged me to keep on every time a book about Syrian refugees was announced. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve taken longer to edit and send it out to agents.
In 2017, Writing East Midlands and We Need Diverse Books awarded me a mentorship. I am enormously grateful for the encouragement you gave me—a big thanks to Aimee Wilkinson, Henderson Mullin, Alex Sanchez, and Padma Venkatraman for seeing something in that submission and for selecting it out of the many you read. Padma, your wholehearted support to see this book published has meant so much to me.
I was delighted to meet my dear writing friends Philippa East and Maya Prasad who were in exactly the same position as me and just as passionate to get published. Thank you so much for listening to my drivel, for advising, and for patiently guiding me through my many editing crises. I couldn’t have shared this journey with anyone better.
The biggest thanks of all must go to my mentor, my guide, my friend, Catherine Coe, who showed me that every book can be rescued and rewritten to reach its potential. You taught me so much and I am here because of you. You pushed me to challenge myself. Working with you has been inspiring and sometimes you just listening helped me fix my problems! I am so grateful to have you in my life.
Thank you to my agent, Jennifer Laughran, who loved the concept the moment we met in London and insisted I send my manuscript to her inbox before she landed in New York! Thank you for persisting and navigating UK and US publishing on my behalf, and for sincerely protecting me when offers of interest came in.
A big thank you to my incredible US publisher Lee & Low and superb editor Stacy Whitman, who loved this story and believed in me. Thank you for asking the perfect questions, for your support and visions for this book. I am so lucky I get to do this with you.
I am truly honored Zainab “Daby” Faidhi, an award-winning illustrator who worked on the film The Breadwinner, chose to work on my cover while she was busy on so many projects in LA. Thank you, it means the world and I love it.
Thank you to Alexandros Plasatis for all the helpful feedback you gave me, and for through your work introducing me to wonderful refugees such as Cloud and Jafor Chowdury, who shared their traumatic detention center experience with me. Also a big thanks to Sheila Averbuch for reading my early draft, and Eiman Munro for telling me I’d pushed boundaries with it.
A huge thanks must also go to Nadine Kaadan, my favourite Damascene picture book author and illustrator. Thank you for telling me this book is important and needed and for supporting me. Your invaluable advice made Sami’s story more authentic. Through you I met my dear friend in Damascus, Mayida Yord, who spent an unbelievable amount of time fact-checking my book. I will always treasure our friendship and look forward to the day we meet in Syria. Miss Majida is named after you! Thank you to student Mohamad Ghabash for telling me he felt Sami could be him, and Layla Jazairy for saying that through this book I’d expressed for you what you couldn’t from Damascus.
Ahmad Al-Rashid and Ammar Alsaker, Emad, Rawaa, Maya, Mahmoud, and Abu Karim, you are the most inspiring people I have met. Thank you for sharing your stories of Syria with me and offering me support with this book. I am so glad you are able to show the world who you were and are. Emad, I hope you build houses again in Syria. Rawaa, I hope you work as a department-store buyer once more. Ammar, I can’t wait to see your designs, I know you’ll be famous. Ahmad, I still haven’t read Chaucer, but will continue to tell everyone you have!
Thank you to all my writing friends who have cheered me on and celebrated each tiny step I’ve taken to get to this point: Kathryn Evans, Patrice Lawrence, Sarah Broadley, Claire Watts, Liz Flanagan, Kate Mallinder, Louise Cliffe-Minns, Julie Sullivan, Louisa Glancy, Kate Walker, Dawn Finch, Caroline Fielding, Joanna de Guia, Louie Stowell, Swapna Haddow, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Catherine Emmett, Karen Ball, Kirsty Applebaum, Tracy Mathias, Tanya Landman, Bob Stone, Maisie Chan, Em Lynas, Alexandra Strick, Vanessa Harbour, Anna Orenstein, Kim Howard, Savita Kalhan, Beebee Taylor, Marie Basting, Nicky Schmidt, Candy Gourlay, Catherine Johnson, Nizrana Farook, and so many more I can’t fit here. Also Sophie Wills, my superhero, for fitting in a last minute proofread. A BIG thank you to SCBWI for helping me to connect with you all.
Thank you also to superstar editors Sarah Odedina and Cheryl Klein for seeking me out and commissioning me to write for you. I am truly honored. You gave me much-needed confidence to believe maybe I could do this thing.
And now my darling family: my husband Imran and children Mustafa, Ahmed, and Hana. I couldn’t have done any of this without your beautiful, wholehearted support. Thank you for coming with me to events, staying home when I had to go alone, cheering me on, and seeing me as an author before I could. Mustafa, thank you for being my first child beta reader. You read it four times and gave me invaluable insights into a thirteen-year-old’s mind. Hana, you read the book sweetly to me, aged nine, just because you wanted to. You made Sami’s voice come alive, you should read for Audible! Ahmed, thank you for hand-selling my book to your school librarian and friends before it was even printed!
And finally, my mum. You taught me that everything I was blessed with was for a purpose, to help and serve others. You showed me that the sky was the limit and I could achieve anything if I put the work in. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Of course I mustn’t forget God, thank you for blessing me with a supportive family, friends, a writing community, a computer, time, energy, and dedication to do something I not only enjoy, but also means the world to me.
This is a tribute to all of you. ❤
About the Author
A. M. Dassu is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction books, based in the heart of England. She is the Deputy Editor of SCBWI-BI’s Words & Pictures magazine and a Director of Inclusive Minds, a unique organization for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality, and accessibility in children’s literature, and are committed to changing the face of children’s books. Her work has been published by the Huffington Post, Times Educational Supplement, SCOOP magazine, Lee & Low Books, and DK Books. She won the international We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) mentorship award in 2017. A. M. Dassu has used her publishing advances for Boy, Everywhere to assist Syrian refugees in her city and set up a WNDB grant to support an unpublished refugee or immigrant writer. You can find her on Twitter @a_reflective or at amdassu.com.
A. M. Dassu, Boy, Everywhere
