Listening to Write Two Projects

"The greatest gift we can give one another is the gift of our attention." Thich Nhat Hanh terryfarish.com

Listening to folktales told aloud in an ESOL class led to creating a written tale in Nepali and English,

The Story of a Pumpkin published by the

New Hampshire Humanities Council

• "I didn't go to school but I remember many stories my father told me when we worked on the farm." Hari Tiwari, storyteller

Dal Rai paints scenes from the story Hari tells.

"May we gather riches by listening deeply."

Jo Radner, folklorist

Hari shows a kitchen tool she brought from Bhutan, one of the images in a kitchen scene in The Story of a

Pumpkin.

"If you listen to this story you will receive a golden garland." - the traditional ending to Nepali tales

A Sudanese community allowed me to listen over years in the fashion of the

documentarian.

They wanted to tell me their stories so people in the their new home could understand that they were deeply

homesick and came to the U.S. so their children would be safe and could get an

education.

"Home is home. I will always be homesick for Sudan."

photo by Kate Philbrick katephoto.com

• "Why here do the parents respect the children instead of the children respect the parents." photo by Kate Philbrick katephoto.com

• My novel about a fictional girl from what is now South Sudan