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Farnaz Calafi: I think it's human nature and essential for us to tell and listen to stories. Therefore, I cannot imagine a world without books. It just wouldn't be natural or possible even.

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Hello, my name is Farnaz Calafi, and I'm a writer and author based in Southern California. I have two books out so far. Hopefully, there will be more. One is a nonfiction book about my favorite beverage. It's called All Things Coffee. The other is a children's book that is soon to be released. It's called Hazel and Her Sun. That is S-U-N, Sun. I guess, I've always loved books and can't imagine a world without them. In fact, some of my best childhood memories are from reading books or listening to stories.

I remember before I learned to read, I would beg my maternal and paternal grandmothers to tell me stories. Neither of them had a high school degree, so they both had elementary education, but nevertheless, they were both amazing storytellers. My maternal grandmother would make up stories, I think because she never read from books. She would just tell me stories. Since there was no book or picture to look at, I had to form my own pictures in my head, and I still can see some of those images. For example, one was about a dashing young prince, who gets on a black horse and goes to a village to save a young girl from her cruel relatives. Not the most feminist story I know, [chuckles] but it was fun to listen to as a child.

My paternal grandmother would actually read from books, but I remember she read so slowly that I had to imagine what the next sentence would be. I would look at the images of the book she was reading from and make up the story in my head because I was so impatient. Anyhow, they both introduced me to the wonderful world of storytelling and perhaps that's when my love affair with stories and books began. As I'm sure it's the case with most people, it started at a young age.

I think it's human nature and essential for us to tell and listen to stories. Therefore, I cannot imagine a world without books. It just wouldn't be natural or possible even. If you love books or stories, you're on the right path in this life, I think. Thank you. Thank you for listening to my segment. Keep on reading.

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