Hey, Hanar.

Hey, Lila.

So, Lila, I finally did it.

I finally made my Folktales project.

Remember that?

I absolutely do.

I remember we talked about this so long ago

that you wanted to write a book of Sudanese folk tales for the kids.

And you had a lot of

questions. Yeah. I mean, we even made a whole episode about how afraid I was, asking all kinds of

questions like, should I even do this? Do I have a right to tell our ancient folk tales? It was a lot. Yeah, but you didn't make a book.

You actually made a podcast, you know, because you're an audio girl, audio fan. Yeah, I mean,

for me, the bottom line was it was about kids being able to see themselves in literature, right?

Like somewhere in books, in audio, on the screen,

just to hear familiar words that they hear in their homes,

hearing their names, their foods, their realities

that they've never heard before or seen before in media.

So are we going to hear some of this?

I hope so.

Yes, we'll hear some today.

But first, I wanted to talk to someone who, like me, didn't grow up hearing or seeing herself

in books, and then grew up hearing or seeing herself in books.

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