These words by Eva jumped out at me:
"I am hugely excited about this project and want to shout it out to all four corners of the world: hello, young and beautiful people, this is your moment to tell the world what it is like to be born in Dubai, have grandparents in Leicestershire, Skype with a best friend in Poland and still miss life in Argentina."
How was the idea for the book born?
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| Home is where the sunflower grows |
The idea for the upcoming anthology of TCK writing “ The Worlds
Within “ was forged following the 2012 FIGT
– Families in Global Transition – conference in Washington DC, USA. I
was invited to be the closing key note speaker and Jo was launching her book
and leading workshops on writing your life story.
Founded in 1998 at the kitchen table of
Ruth van Reken (co-author of Third
Culture Kids–Growing Up Among Worlds), FIGT is both the mother hen and the
flagship of all writing, research and publishing on TCK/ ATCK matters,
connecting brilliant minds who speak and dream in many tongues all across the
globe.
To me, sharing my views on identity vs
nationality with 200 strangers who I had come to deeply feel connected to in
less than 72 hours was a life changing event. It was for the first time ever that
all the many pieces of my “weird” biography were being voiced and brought
together – and no one told me off for being weird, strange, too complicated or
simply unreal. These people were genuinely curious and they kept nodding – and
then had equally incredible stories to share themselves. Which they did until
the wee hours of the morning.
Questions that had put my life on hold
for so many years – who am I, where do I really belong to, and so many more –
suddenly found an answer and were put into the right context and perspective. Words
fail to describe the effect this had on my outlook on myself and the many
worlds I am living in… on Facebook this would translate into OMG !! WOW !! and
a lot of L J.
My definition of home is: home is where
you don’t need to explain yourself.
Well, in March 2012, at FIGT – please
immerse yourself into www.FIGT.org
- me, myself and I arrived home. HOME! After
returning to The Hague, my eureka moment and Jo’s expert and compassionate
guidance led to the idea of giving other TCKs and ATCKs a voice of their own,
to be compiled into an anthology of original writing. A lot has been written about TCKs / ATCKs and related issues – we felt that the time for
showcasing the practice in genuine TCK/ATCK words and art was ripe.
Is it correct that art and writing can be
submitted?
To be part of The Worlds Within: Write
as much as a short story or as little as a haiku – you may use up to 2000
words; draw, paint, make a collage – whatever.
The
deadline for submissions is 30 October 2013.
Submissions
can be sent to TCKTheWorldsWithin@gmail.com,
in Times New Roman 12 font, formatted in indented paragraphs. Artwork will be
published in black and white and must be submitted in the highest possible
resolution.
Authors,
aged
0-27, have the explicit right to
remain anonymous or submit their work using a nom-de-plume.
Minimum
requirements that need to accompany
submissions: a name, the age when the submitted work was created, countries the
author has lived in and a three word motto, which is relevant to their life (mine,
for example is: connect – contribute – celebrate). If desired, they may add any
information – website, blog, email, twitter – by which their art / writing can
be followed.
The texts – up to 100 – will be
organized by age.
Yes, we do accept submissions of group
effort – what a great idea!
For all further questions please email
us TCKTheWorldsWithin@gmail.com,
like us on www.facebook.com/TheWorldsWithin
and – very important – keep writing!
And, last but not least: please be our
ambassador. Tell your siblings, cousins, friends, colleagues and class mates
about this chance to tell the world what it feels like to be the genuine,
unique and complex YOU.
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Thank you Eva. I hope there will be many submissions because children who grow up in other cultures are very creative. Even adult third culture kids can send in submissions. Please spread the word around. I just love the idea of a book with works by third culture kids. What are your thoughts on this? I would love some comments. Just to let you know that I read each comment.
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