After moving back to the U.S. I became so busy with work and family I had to tell my podcast producer Carol Azams that I sadly didn't have time to make another season of The Book Show for her network/app Diversity TV...
But all that has changed! I had a temporary dip in hours as I was changing stores (to move to one with better and more in-depth retail management training) so I began working on new material for our podcast, so... expect new episodes, coming your way in 2021! These will feature new books and a chord of inspiration that runs throughout the season to uplift spirits and inspire people with dreams and goals. It will also feature local backgrounds as all will be filmed outside here in the wilds of rural Arkansas, U.S.
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Since moving back to my original home country of the United States I've had quite the experience... I'd never lived in Arkansas before. I have been embracing the local outdoors culture while working in retail management as an Essential Worker through these times (at stores providing vital food, medicines, and other essentials for people and pets) and helping out my family (who moved here from the West Coast 11 to 21 years ago, depending on the family member.) When I've had time between work and family I've written some poems about my life and experiences here in the Ozarks; fishing, hunting, and helping my family raise our 11 and 13-year-old kids whose parents aren't around. Meanwhile, back in Ireland... my friend and writing colleague Carol Azams came up with a timely and brilliant new book idea; essays about peoples' individual, personal experiences of 2020. Between the news media, hype, and somewhat news-induced panics and misinformation about the situation, what have we, the individuals who have lived the experienced of 2020, been through? She has decided to capture that experience for future generations in her new book project. I have contributed an essay and will post an update when the book is published and available to all. I hope we all have new, positive experiences and adventures coming for us in 2021, and a safe and effective vaccine to help us prevent further deaths. But as I say to my customers, "2021 can't be any [than 2020] worse, and if it's not better, at least we'll be used to it by now." My new podcast, written and presented by me and executive-produced by Carol Azams, has begun airing!
Couldn't be more excited; the range of books is diverse, nonfiction, fiction, and a little bit of poetry. Energy and global warming opinions, garment workers, geo-politics in Africa, how to start grassroots activism or use LinkedIn to boost your career prospects and business contacts, Hemingway (of course!), and feminist (and largely forgotten) poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox all take centre stage in this Irish production! Check it out: 'The Book Show' on Diversity Television (Ireland). My colleague and friend Carol Azams is at it again; starting her own Diversity TV network (and roped me into writing and presenting a show for it, which I loved doing!)
Please check it out and download the app on Google Play! 'The Book Show' and more on DTV. A fond farewell to my days of studying and working as an English language teacher in Ireland.
The characters, the experiences, and the places in Ireland are chronicled and immortalized in this fond kiss-off.
As mentioned before, a friend of mine asked me to start working on an author interview podcast where I would interview authors about their books. Coordinating schedules proved nearly impossible though so she asked if I could just present about books I'd read so we changed it to that. So I wrote a bunch of scripts and worked on filming them one by one. Then sending them on to her for editing for the indie network she's talked about planning to launch soon. I will share links to this whenever I get them. It's going to be called The Book Show on Diversity Television, with executive producer Carol Azams. In the mean time, I have some extras that were recorded during the making of this podcast/TV project... they're mostly audio, here on YouTube: Starting with "The Little Housewife", a story I wrote about my grandma and how she kept our family together through her extremely difficult life... A wonderful writer and editor friend of mine here in Ireland has a new project in the works to have writers interview writers. I've already made a demo interview with a writer friend of mine who still lives in the US... still working away and will share to this site whenever it's available! Below is a quick promo clip I shot for her (unedited). Good things are coming in 2020! I'm currently working on two new nonfiction books which I hope to release in late 2020.
One about a lot of my experiences as a Teacher of English as a Foreign language to priamrily adult language learners from countries that have included Brazil, Mexico, China, Japan, Chile, Colombia, Mongolia, Bolivia, and Lebanon and what they taught me or we learned together. It is my loving farewell to that work as I move into a new career. It is also a very critical look at the EFL/ESL industry and its treatment of its teachers and students. My hope is taht this will help to raise awareness of issues in this industry and inspire many to improve it. The other is about how hard it is to get a divorce in Ireland, which will be come complete with general directions for how to do it by one's self or by accessing some low-cost services in the Republic. It will also include example court forms that go into detail in the way that the court forms you have to print yourself off the official government website do not go into. (For the record, this is not to encourage people to get divorces but to help people who already know they need one to access their right to divorce and reduce their stress and emotional duress in doing so in a country that intentionally makes it difficult to even find out how to get a divorce.) I will also add my finished forms, as examples (with all personal information deleted), on this website, to help those in need of them. I will include them at the bottom of my own "nonfiction" page on this website so anyone who may need them can copy and paste them as needed. (Please note that I have no legal training; my forms are based on the ones from the official government website and I was helped to edit them by one solicitor (lawyer) of general law, then they were vetted by a solicitor of family law when I accessed some free legal services (my book will get into all of this).) My hope is for this book to help those going through this very typcially very difficult, challenging, and even very painful transition in life. (Here: avacollopybooks.weebly.com/nonfiction)
If you are an immigrant in Ireland and need help, you can check flac.ie free legal clinics to access free legal advise on Immigration, Employment, Family Law, and General Law, and New Communities Partnership for questions about applying for Irish citizenship. These services are FREE and CONFIDENTIAL.
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The Writer
Author BioAva Collopy is a teacher, writer, and world traveler. She has been to 10 countries and counting. She has lived in the U.S. and Ireland. She has published several books, hosted The Book Show podcast on Diversity TV (UK and Ireland, which she has now created Ruminate from (encompassing the book, here, and a planned series of videos, here). And she has nonfiction and fiction published in...
Nonfiction: 2020: Year of Covid-19 (Stories of Lockdown), Inspired Migrant Women in Ireland, Edible Red, Down in the Dirt, and The Relic the Effort the Yelp. Fiction: White Liquor Steemit, Beautiful Losers, White Liquor, Down in the Dirt, Brilliant Flash Fiction (contest shortlist, as A.C.), Sunlight in the Sanctuary, Treading Water, and Adrift. Poetry: Blue Collar Review, Down in the Dirt, CC&D, Poetry Pacific, Re/ Verse, Verse Virtual, Ascent Aspirations, and others. She has teaching materials and pacing guides on: Teacherpayteachers.com and Classful.com. Her books are listed, with cover and description on this website's other pages: Nonfiction Fiction Poetry Besides her one year as an adoptive mother she is a happily lifelong non-mom, a fact she proudly promotes to remind everyone that these are choices each individual must make for themselves. Ava Collopy Books
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