Author Loves Storytelling—for All Ages!

by Reporter Zahra Rafiyath, BASIS Oro Valley

I had the pleasure of interviewing an amazing author and interfaith activist, Saadia Faruqi. She has written books for different age groups. I met her at the Tucson Festival of Books at the U of A campus.

She has written books for all ages, including the Yasmin series for early readers. Faruqi says she was 8 years old when she began to write stories, but she didn't get serious about writing novels until later.

“I always loved storytelling, in all sorts of formats, and I wrote for fun almost all my life,” says Faruqi. “I decided to turn that love into a career when I was in my early 30s.”

Faruqi told me that she doesn’t have a favorite among her books. “All my books are equally precious to me because I wrote all of them, and the same amount of hard work and emotion goes into each book,” she says.

I recently read her book “A Thousand Questions.” I asked Faruqi how long did it took her to write it. She told me that she wrote the first draft in two or three months, and spent another month on revisions.

“However, there's a long gap between writing a book and getting it published, because there is editing, copy editing, cover design, marketing and all that,” Faruqi explains. “I wrote the first draft in 2017 and it was published in 2020.”

She is currently writing several more books. Later this year her first picture book, “Rani's Remarkable Day,” and her first graphic novel, “Saving Sunshine,” will be released.

It’s Travel Season and Air Travel Is Up

by Reporter Xavier Wu Sunrise Drive Elementary

With the COVID-19 pandemic officially over, and summer vacation looming ever closer (or arrived, for some), the travel industry is looking optimistic for the summer travel season, especially after the disastrous dive holiday travel took during the pandemic.

In fact, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, already 770 million passengers have traveled by air this year since February, an 18.1% increase from 2022, with only 652 million passengers. And keep in mind that the summer travel season has barely started, which gives you a glimpse on how chaotic this season may be, especially after the past few quiet summers.

And for hotels, this is also a major bounce back up. In 2020, during the midst of COVID, the number of hotel and motel businesses over time dropped to 77.9 thousand. In 2022, it rose up to 90.6 thousand. That’s a 12.7% increase.

Rental home listings are up, too. In fact, according to NewSilver.com, there were more than 2 million rental home listings on VRBO!

So, are you going anywhere this summer?