Jane Kurtz
Jane Kurtz was two years old when she moved from America to Ethiopia. Her parents wanted to work for a Presbyterian church in the town of Maji, so she spent most of her life there, only moving back to the US a few times in her youth before settling permanently as an adult. She describes those times in her youth as periods when she was unable to relate to her American classmates who didn't understand her life in Ethiopia. As a result, she felt disconnected from her childhood, and after twenty years of trying to "play down" her Ethiopian aspects, as she explained for Something About the Author,
... my feelings of homesickness led to the realization that I could connect with my childhood—through the books and stories I was writing.
To read more about Kurtz or her work in the mentioned organizations, visit the Jane Kurtz website.
Her love of children's literature didn't stop at personal catharsis through the pen. In 1998, she co-founded Ethiopia Reads, working there for fifteen years planting libraries and providing literature resources for children before heading the Creative Team of Ready Set Go Books, which publishes children's literature. Knowing what books have done for her is why she wants to make sure people, and especially children, have access to them. Of her own writing, she says:
It's been a healing and inspiring experience to re-connect with my childhood and also be able to help people know just a little of the beautiful country I grew up in.