Award-Winning Author

Cristina Kessler

Cristina Kessler is an award-winning author of nine books set in Africa, where she lived for 19 years. She’s received the 2015 Lumen Award, given for “excellence in nonfiction for young readers” with Hope is Here!; She’s received the Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award from the ASPCA for Excellence in Humane Literature for Young Readers; the Africana Book Award, from the African Studies Association, honoring outstanding books about Africa for children and young adults; and has been included many times on the Notable Books for a Global Society list. She writes about nature and cross-cultural topics.

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Hope for Limpopo

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By Cristina Kessler

Tales of an Ikut Swami

Personal Memoir

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TALES OF AN IKUT SWAMI is a collection of my experiences with women in the Developing World. Each country was a new adventure and a new challenge and being an Ikut Swami gave me the freedom to try whatever opportunities came my way. Some of the stories are based on people that I knew for more than a year, and others lasted weeks, months, and in one case, an afternoon. But each was recorded in a notebook or journal, which preserved details I definitely would have forgotten by now. One is a portion of an article I wrote for the early Ms. Magazine, but all the rest are recorded treasured memories. It would be great if these stories trigger a walk down Memory Lane for all that read the book, thinking about amazing women they have met. And it lets us know that someway, big or small, we can all make a difference. – Cristina Kessler