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A Whole Harvest of Iowa Authors-Kay Fenton Smith and Carol Roh Spaulding
Where did the idea for Zakery’s Bridge originate?
We were inspired by our own family immigration stories to write a book that would entertain and -
we hope - encourage kids to reach out across cultural barriers. We didn’t start out as writing friends,
but the more we talked, the more we realized our shared interest. The result is nine children telling
their stories of immigrating to Iowa from nine different countries. Zakery, born in Iowa, shares the
story of his family fleeing their homeland to escape the Bosnian War. He’d always heard about Bosnia and
Herzegovina and at 11, he visits there. A major triumph is crossing the famous bridge that was destroyed
in the war and rebuilt over 10 years. The bridge is a symbol of peace; Zakery’s story sets the theme of
crossing cultural bridges.
Talk about your unique journey to publication.
We received two grants from the Drake University Center for the Humanities and a third from Drake’s Office of
the Provost. After writing half of the manuscript we received positive feedback from several national publishers
but not a perfect fit. Ultimately, we wanted to keep the book’s Iowa focus and find a way to give back to our
storytelling families and Iowa’s greater immigrant community. We used a community publishing model*, working
with a team of talented individuals who provided their expertise to make it happen: the design team at Shrieking
Tree Publishers [Des Moines], the directors of the Iowa International
Center and CULTUREALL,
student interns and contributions from more than 80 photographers from around the globe.
Please share some post-publication highlights.
Our book launch coincided with a celebration of nearly 100 children becoming U.S. citizens at the
State Historical Museum. Each received a copy of Zakery’s Bridge. Since then, the book has taken on
a life of its own. It’s being used in K-12 classrooms across the state, so we’ve written a teacher’s guide
for discussions and classroom activities for each story. DMACC, Meredith Corporation, GCommerce and others
have donated complete classroom sets of 25 books that are circulating among schools. Classroom sets may
be borrowed from Heartland Education Agency or through CultureALL. Zakery’s Bridge is not only being
read but also experienced.
Most importantly, every purchase supports the Iowa International Center [formerly the Iowa Council
for International Understanding] and CultureALL.
Zakery’s Bridge may be purchased [$20] at www.zakerysbridge.com, Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, and Zumi and Fair World Gallery in Valley Junction. Books may also be donated to classrooms.
For donation information: kayfentonsmith@msn.com or carol.spaulding@drake.edu)
* Community publishing is a service-related form of self-publishing. Stakeholders dedicated to a community issue team up to create a book that advocates for that issue and raises funds
through book sales for community organizations that do the same.
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Kay Fenton Smith, left, and
Carol Roh Spaulding
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