Elsa Marston talks about her books, all of which are about the Middle East and North Africa

The American children’s author Elsa Marston grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Indiana, but the books she’s written in her 25-year career are all about the Middle East and North Africa.

Marston, who is married to a Lebanese man and has lived and travelled extensively in Lebanon, Tunisia, Palestine and Egypt, says her aim is to educate young Americans about the Middle East, so they realise that, in many ways, the lives of young Arabs are not so different from their own.

Her forthcoming book The Olive Tree was originally written as a short story for a contest in the American children’s magazine Highlights for Children, and in 1994 it won the Short Story Award from the International Reading Association. It is now being published as a picture book – with gorgeous watercolour illustrations by Claire Ewart – for children ages 5 and above, and is due out on Saturday.

As Marston explains, she remains dedicated to dispelling myths and prejudices about the region.

Tell us about The Olive Tree.

It’s a story of loss and reconciliation set in a Lebanese village following the long civil war between 1975 and 1991. An old olive tree grows over the property of neighbours, who quarrel over the olives. When the tree is destroyed, it surprisingly offers a way for the children of the two families to be friends. This book happily realises my long-standing hope to work on a book with my friend [Ewart].

When did you start writing and why did you choose to write for children?

I grew up listening to bedtime stories my father told me, with the idea that one day I would be able to tell my own. I remember starting to write three novels at the age of 8 or 9. Naturally they didn’t get beyond the second page, but many years later, I realised that one of them had actually turned into my novel, The Ugly Goddess. As an adult, I decided to write the sort of stories that appealed to me as a child: adventures and mysteries in exotic places such as ancient Egypt, Carthage, the Greek islands and also funny stories about animals.

Original article by Priti Salian

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Elsa Marston talks about her books, all of which are about the Middle East and North Africa