On Thursday, Nov. 30, at 6 p.m., The Community Library in Ketchum will present Elena Smith, the author of "Why Birches are White," to discuss her debut novel followed by a book signing.
"Why Birches are White" took Smith 10 years to write. She teaches English but never considered writing a book until others told her to do so. "Not every English teacher writes," said Smith. "It was an eight-year process. It took so long to write because I had all the problems of writing a book, and writing in another language."
Smith moved from St. Petersburg, Russia, to 14 miles north of Moscow, Idaho, in 1993, and for the first two years she didn't find many job nor did she have a lot of friends. So ,she began to write.
"I happened to meet the right people such as a professor from Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.," said Smith. "I gave her a couple of chapters to read, and she encouraged me."
Smith felt blessed by the support and continued to write creating a romance novel based on an actual event in 1987 where a group of Americans and Russians walked from Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, to Moscow for peace.
"Americans were not allowed in certain places that were not surveyed by the KGB," she said. "It was easier in a big city to watch over people, but not if they walked through small towns and 'secret' towns."
Smith did the march with her son and met people from everywhere, especially her lifetime friend Lowie Graves from Ketchum, who is now in her 80s.
"People like to write about Russia. I wrote from the inside as one little person about the wonders and the horrors. I was honest and sincere about the real things that happened." Smith said. "An average person thinks just about the culture. The communist social things were just awful. It was eye-opening."
Smith self published her novel this past July and is working on a sequel.
"I have done a few book signings, and have been amazed that it has attracted so many people," Smith said. "I am happy that Americans read because there's a notion out there that Americans don't read."
Elena Smith author of ?Why Birches are White.?
