WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congratulations to my good friend Amanda Diedrick on being named a finalist in the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (Regional Non-Fiction category) for her book, Those Who Stayed: The Tale of the Hardy Few Who Built Green Turtle Cay.
I was first introduced to Amanda several years ago online by Kimberly King-Burns, who lives in California, and was one of the persons I featured in my BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA series when I was Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C. After I had featured Kimberly, I asked her to recommend other Bahamians living in the Los Angeles area she thought should be featured.
She recommended Amanda, whose husband Tom Walters at the time was Los Angeles Bureau Chief for Canada’s CTV Television. Because I had already scheduled an interview with Bahamian Olympian Jackie Edwards, who also lives in California, I did not want to feature three California residents back-to-back, so I planned to feature Amanda on a later date. Actually, Amanda lived in Canada prior to accompanying Tom to Los Angeles.
I got to meet Amanda in person in the 2016 when Tom was sent to D.C. that summer to cover the U.S. presidential campaign leading up to the November 2016 presidential election, and my wife Elisabeth and I went out to dinner with them on several occasions while they were in D.C. Amanda also attended The Bahamas Independence anniversary picnic held on the grounds of the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Alexandria, Virginia, on Saturday, July 9, 2016 , one of the events held in the D.C. area to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of The Bahamas’ attainment of Independence from Great Britain.
When her book “Those Who Stayed” was published, Amanda was kind enough to send me an
I’VE GOT MINE: My good friend Amanda Diedrick was kind enough to send me an autographed copy of her book shortly after it was published.
autographed copy. So, having recently published my first book, WOES OF LIFE — a novel about the struggle by blacks against racism in an emerging island nation in the 1940s and 1950s—I was overjoyed and immensely pleased to learn about my good friend being named a finalist in the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for her excellent literary accomplishment.
“Those Who Stayed” is a good read with some wonderful photographs and it should be on the coffee table in the living rooms of homes throughout The Bahamas
