Fimbo Publishing

George Mason University, Barnes & Noble, NOVEC, and the Fairfax County Public Library, present the
11th Annual Fall for the Book Festival.

As Fall for the Book begins its second decade, we’re once more hosting events at bookstores, restaurants, retail shops, and schools at all levels of the educational spectrum — middle school, high
school, community college, major university — throughout Northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland.
In all, we’ll have more programs in more venues and collaboration with more businesses and
organizations than ever before in our history,allowing us to:

• Advance children’s education
• Make literature fun
• Connect readers and authors
• Build community
• Encourage cultural diversity

An acquaintance of mine recently converted to Islam. I have no idea how or why, and I’m not intimate enough with this person to ask. I know that she recently lost someone very close to her, and that it made her sink into herself, shut our regular circle out, and probably question a lot of her deepest beliefs. I think it renewed her search for something she has never quite been able to find. I also believe that the person she lost was Muslim.

I feel that perhaps watching how the family coped with the loss may have helped her reach her decision. There is a certain peace that comes from sincere religion, and perhaps seeing such peace in a world where many religions, and especially Christianity, is largely empty shallow lip-service, may have made her realise what her own desires are.

I live in a town that is largely Muslim. I am curious about this religion, intrigued even, but I know very little about it. I know that a lot of its statutes have been misused and abused, and that in their genuine form, they are good and true. For example, I vaguely know that Koranic law is very specific about wives inheriting their husband’s property, and that when used justly, that inheritance law protects women.

I know that in its truest form, the buibui and hijab are intended to revere a woman’s modesty, and that keeping women separate in religious and social contexts is meant to protect her. I also know that misuse of this same separation has led to segregating women, limiting their experience and bringing unnecessary suspicion on them by the outside world. But I have always admired the idea behind it, the concept that the whole world sees black amorphous shrouded eyes, while in the sanctity of the bedroom, only her man can see how gorgeous she truly is. I think that’s beautiful.

See Press Release Below:
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The 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the global prize for fiction for both established and new writers, has opened for entry. The two categories, for Best Book, worth £10,000 to the overall winner, and Best First Book, worth £5,000 to the overall winner, are open to published writers from across the 53 countries of the Commonwealth.
The Prize, now in its 24th year, celebrates cutting-edge fiction across four regions of the Commonwealth: Africa; Canada and Caribbean; South Asia and Europe and South East Asia and Pacific. Last year more than 350 entries were received with the regional winners emerging from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa and the UK.