Waiting for the Biblioburro<\/em> is a little girl named Ana who loves to read. Is that character element autobiographical in that respect? Were you always someone who loved to read and learn about different people, places and stories?<\/p>\nMB: Absolutely. I loved books from when I was a little girl. They were a great escape during difficult times. Even if I was bored or restless, I turned to books and they just sparked something in my imagination. I made a whole career around literature, as both a teacher, an English professor and as a writer \u2013 and before that I was a journalist. So words have always been very important to me.<\/p>\n
TR: Tell me about Luis Soriano, the man who inspired this book, and how you heard about him.<\/p>\n
MB: Luis Soriano is amazing. I first learned about him by reading an article in The New York Times by Simon Romero called \u201cAcclaimed Colombian Institution Has Four Thousand Eight Hundred Books and Ten Legs.\u201d And then I came across a film, \u201cBiblioburro: The Donkey Library\u201d by Valentina Canavesio. I did some research and I ended up contacting Simon and Valentina, and I got Luis\u2019s contact information because I wanted to really better understand him and the work that he does. I knew that talking to him would inspire me to tell a story worthy of his endeavor. <\/p>\n
So I found his number and talked to him in Colombia. I personally supported his efforts with lots of my own books being sent there, and interviewed him in multiple ways, through e-mail, through Valentina, courier, and on the telephone. He was amazing, and I decided to not try to speak in his voice, but instead to tell a story, a fictional story about a life that he changed, about a little girl who might have been like me, who loved books, but unlike me, who wasn\u2019t privileged and had no school or libraries! In so many of these rural villages in Columbia and in Peru, where my family\u2019s from, it\u2019s a challenge to even have schools, much less libraries. One of the really special things about this book is that my publisher agreed to allow Luis\u2019s Biblioburro Foundation<\/em> to benefit from some of the profits of the book. So myself, and I know John too, we took smaller advances for this work and that was another thing that was pretty special about it.<\/p>\nTR: Do you know what motivated Luis in his background to take on all these challenges because it\u2019s rough terrain? <\/p>\n
MB: He is a teacher and in part, he\u2019s self-taught. But he just saw the lack of access to books and the lack of literacy, and Luis has a vision. He thinks that when you teach children about being citizens through critical literacy, that they can say \u201cno\u201d to violence. That\u2019s his ultimate goal. He says that he wants the town of \u201cLa Gloria,\u201d where he\u2019s from, to be glorious. He sees a connection between literacy and democracy and exercising positive choices for community.<\/p>\n
To hear my complete interview with Monica Brown (as well as my interview with Sister Rosemary Dowd<\/a> about her 40 years of ministering to prisoners), download our podcast:<\/em>
\nChristopher Closeup Podcast \u2013 Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christopher Closeup Podcast \u2013 Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown When author Monica Brown first read about traveling librarian Luis Soriano, she felt inspired to write a children\u2019s book about him. After all, this was a man who braved attacks by snakes and armed bandits so he could carry books to poor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,10],"tags":[99,89],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christopher-awards","tag-books","tag-christopher-awards"],"yoast_head":"\n
Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christopher Closeup Podcast - Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown When author Monica Brown first read about traveling librarian Luis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christopher Closeup Podcast - Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown When author Monica Brown first read about traveling librarian Luis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christopher Closeup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-23T13:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-05-22T20:19:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/christophers\/files\/2012\/05\/MBrown1-188x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Rossi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Rossi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/\",\"name\":\"Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-23T13:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-22T20:19:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d\"},\"description\":\"Christopher Closeup Podcast - Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown When author Monica Brown first read about traveling librarian Luis\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/\",\"name\":\"Christopher Closeup\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d\",\"name\":\"Tony Rossi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tony Rossi\"},\"description\":\"After graduating from St. John's University in New York with degrees in Communications and English, Tony Rossi found a job at the Catholic media organization, The Christophers, that allowed him to indulge his interest in religion, media, and pop culture. He served as The Christophers' TV producer for 11 years, and is currently the host and producer of the organization's radio show\/podcast Christopher Closeup, writer and editor of their syndicated Light One Candle column, and producer\/scriptwriter of the annual Christopher Awards ceremony.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/author\/tonyrossi\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro","description":"Christopher Closeup Podcast - Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown When author Monica Brown first read about traveling librarian Luis","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro","og_description":"Christopher Closeup Podcast - Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown When author Monica Brown first read about traveling librarian Luis","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/","og_site_name":"Christopher Closeup","article_published_time":"2012-05-23T13:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-05-22T20:19:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/christophers\/files\/2012\/05\/MBrown1-188x300.jpg"}],"author":"Tony Rossi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tony Rossi","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/","name":"Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-23T13:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-22T20:19:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d"},"description":"Christopher Closeup Podcast - Guests: 1) Sister Rosemary Dowd, and 2) Monica Brown When author Monica Brown first read about traveling librarian Luis","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/05\/literacy-community-and-the-biblioburro\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Literacy, Community, and the Biblioburro"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/","name":"Christopher Closeup","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d","name":"Tony Rossi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tony Rossi"},"description":"After graduating from St. John's University in New York with degrees in Communications and English, Tony Rossi found a job at the Catholic media organization, The Christophers, that allowed him to indulge his interest in religion, media, and pop culture. He served as The Christophers' TV producer for 11 years, and is currently the host and producer of the organization's radio show\/podcast Christopher Closeup, writer and editor of their syndicated Light One Candle column, and producer\/scriptwriter of the annual Christopher Awards ceremony.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/author\/tonyrossi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/488"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/121\/2012\/05\/MBrown1-188x300.jpg\" "\\"MBrown1\\"")
<\/a>When author Monica Brown<\/a> first read about traveling librarian Luis Soriano, she felt inspired to write a children\u2019s book about him. After all, this was a man who braved attacks by snakes and armed bandits so he could carry books to poor children in rural Colombia on his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto. Promoting literacy and education to the younger generation \u2013 especially those with little access to books \u2013 continues to be his goal.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/121\/2012\/05\/MBrown2-259x300.jpg\" "\\"MBrown2\\"")
<\/a>TR: One of the main characters in Waiting for the Biblioburro<\/em> is a little girl named Ana who loves to read. Is that character element autobiographical in that respect? Were you always someone who loved to read and learn about different people, places and stories?<\/p>\n