DISCOVERING THE MEANING OF LIFE IN SIBERIA
LEADS TO 2008 PULITZER PRIZE COMPETITION
Texas writer sold his home, farmed out his cat and moved to Russia
Veteran Texas writer and communications consultant Randy Black wasn't sure what he would find when he moved to Siberia in January 1993. In the process of searching for the meaning of life 12 time zones from Texas, he discovered the importance of resourcefulness, resilience, love and hope in one's life no matter where you live.
The result of his Russian adventures is Randy Black's Favorite Tales from Siberia, a collection of 25 short stories published in early 2007. By September, Black's book was accepted into the 2008 Pulitzer Prize competition in the Letters category (books, non-fiction).
Black's first Siberian winter
Throughout his first cold year in Siberia, Black managed to keep his fingers warm enough in the often 35 degrees below zero environment to maintain an electronic diary on his Toshiba laptop.
"I did not have Internet access nor could I understand Russian television for the first few months in Omsk (population 1.3 million)," Black said. "As I sat at my tiny desk in my unheated dormitory room night after night, I wrote e-letters to myself. Eventually, I decided to use those letters as the basis for my book."
"Robert Fulgham (All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten) was my inspiration," Black added. "I took along Fulgham's first four novels, which I read again and again, always marveling at his story-telling skills.
"It took nearly a decade of wondering if I had the talent to write a book about my experiences and observations," Black said. "When I finally sat down to finalize my memories, the stories literally poured out of me. I couldn't stop writing for six months.
"My goal was to write a book that readers would find interesting, fun, inspiring and enlightening," he said. "I wanted to tell a story about how similar we all are, no matter where we live."
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Randy Black's Favorite Tales from Siberia, 196 pages, is available in paperback and hardcover with dust jacket for $16.49 and $31.49 respectively. Go to http://www.lulu.com/content/526408 The book is also available via BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, Borders.com and other major online booksellers.
