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FAITH ADIELE is the co-editor of Coming of Age Around the World: A Multicultural Anthology, which contains 24 international stories ideal for college and high school classrooms. Her travel memoir, Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun (W.W. Norton),  won the 2005 PEN Beyond Margins Award for Best Memoir.  The PBS documentary "My Journey Home" is based on her (Obama-esque) life growing up in a Nordic-American family and then traveling to Nigeria to meet her father and siblings.  Other projects include The Student Body: A Novel, a trashy thriller co-written with 3 Harvard pals, and 2 children's readers on urban Africa.

A popular speaker and contributor to O and Essence magazines, Faith has appeared on NPR, in a television ad for TIAA-CREF, on the Tavis Smiley show, and at universities around the world.  She currently serves as the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Mills College in Oakland, California and wrapping up her masterwork, a social/cultural memoir about her Nigerian * Nordic * American  heritage.  Recently she was chosen as one of Marie Claire magazine's "5 Women to Learn From."




 




A Note from Faith...



Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/Tweet Deck, MySpace, my website, my blog, my Amazon Author page,  Google calendar, iCal, Tripit, Dopplr - it's just too much!!!

So, given that this website is difficult to update, and the kids tell me I need to be blogging, I'm going try to shift my active activity over to my new blog, My Multiculti Life ('cuz I was Obama first).

Faith's Blog
It's a place for my weekly wacky encounters with the global world of writing, teaching, traveling, eating. In addition, it will provide both a testing ground for and a small break from the next book (a memoir about my Nigerian Nordic American heritage which is currently 4 generations, 3 continents, 400 pages and growing!).

I will continue to post photos of my cats eating popcorn and ogling Mormon architecture (Facebook), and to keep my various calendars up to date on my upcoming events, a.k.a., the Acts of Faith and Faith-Based Initiatives.


In the meantime, for the Finns among us who plan ahead. . .

I will be at the AWP Conference on
February 2-5, 2011 on two panels: (1) The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, & the Natural World with Lauret Savoy, Elmaz Abinader, Faith Adiele, Fred Arroyo, Debra Kang Dean, & Nikky Finney, and (2) Teaching in the New Landscape: Integrating Multimedia Expression into the Writing Classroom. Marriott Wardman Park & Omni Shoreham Hotels, Washington, DC.

And for the Nigerians among us who like to do things after the fact, here's a selection of my recent stories and interviews. . .

What do you get when you combine (A) an optimistic stray cat; (B) a poor white family; and (C) a biracial girl with an eccentric, highly-politicized mother, both of whom are obsessed with black heroes? Find out in my latest story, Great Afro-Americans in History.
Great Afro Americans in History
The same journal, Switchback (a publication of the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco), also ran an interview with me that gets my mom's official thumbs-up! The special issue focuses on the theme of Minority vs. Majority:

In a lot of ways, Faith Adiele inhabits the boundaries. Racially, spiritually, creatively, Faith has created an identity all her own that is a mixture of many different categories. She is, in many respects, also a trailblazer, the most prominent example being her temporary ordination as Thailand’s first black Buddhist nun. Read the entire interview....

I'm on iTunes! I exist! On Thanksgiving morning I did an interview for a podcast of The Secular Buddhist. Ted Meissner was a delightful, thoughtful host who let me ramble on unimpeded. Listen to my interview online or on iTunes
The Secular Buddhist

San Francisco erotica writer Simon Sheppard got things going by reading a story involving a rabbi, a young adult man and hot menorah wax.


Thus begins Meredith May's story for the San Francisco Chronicle about Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck, the cool new food/writing series that I'll be the literary guest for on January 4. Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck is a monthly event that is part social, part reading series, and part inspiration for writers and foodies alike. Each month features short writing exercises, shared food and featured culinary and literary guests around a theme.

SF Chronicle

More links are available under My Publications and on My New Blog.

~

Memoir as the Ultimate Multicultural Act: The terrific  print issue of YES! Magazine, Issue #53, Spring 2010 features AN ARTICLE BY ME on teaching multicultural literature to students against their will, being show-and-tell at my goddaughter's fifth grade class, and memoir as the ultimate multicultural act. Contact YES! for bulk copies to distribute at events!

Yes Magazine #53

According to the Press Release: By mid-century, people of color will be the majority in the United States. The new issue of YES! Magazine shows us ways to get beyond the racism that's haunted us since the founding of the country. The special 34-page feature section of "America: The Remix" introduces the people who are already writing a new American story that embraces all the cultures and peoples of the United States. Youth activists, labor organizers, urban planners, and just plain folks are putting aside race to work together. They're ready to make our country’s diversity our strength.

Barbie & Afro-Puffs: In this excerpt from Meeting Faith, YES! Magazine Online tells you everything you (n)ever wanted to know about the history of my hair and my mother's Barbie policy - complete with cute kid pix! It's also featured on the HAPPINESS page ('cuz nothing says happy like Barbie!).

Faith Goes Digital: Look, Mom - I teached myself how to make a Book Trailer, complete with music (that looks like every other person's first efforts on iMovie. Ooo, Ken  Burns effect!)! All the cool kids are doing it. (Both links will get you the 2:40 minute video on YouTube.)
 YouTube Trailer for Meeting Faith





To read more blog entries by Faith, click here.









Faith's Links...

  • Travel Like a Pro!
  • My Blog
  • Be a Kept Artist!

  • Nigerian maskWfinland car

    Brazil green south africamexicodubaimaliswedenbiafran pound
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