It's a scene repeated in hundreds of bookstores across the country every night: A visiting author gives a reading, and, afterward, sits at a table signing copies of the new book for customers waiting in line.But on a recent evening at Diesel Bookstore in Oakland, the scene looks a little different. Sitting behind a table laden with copies of her new book of poetry is author Sahara Sunday Spain. Smatterings of people who have just heard her read approach the table, eager to praise the author's writing and ask her to sign the copies they have purchased.
She thanks each person politely and asks how to spell everyone's name. What's unusual here is the author's age: Sahara is 9 years old. Her story is indeed something out of the ordinary. The Oakland girl has caused a stir in the publishing world with the release of ``If There Would Be No Light,'' which came out earlier this year. The hardcover book of poems, which sells for $17, earned the third-grader an advance in the middle-five figures from HarperSanFrancisco.
The book features more than 50 poems written by Sahara between the ages of 5 and 8. The pieces are all accompanied by the girl's own intricate illustrations. In the wake of the book's release, the media--- drawn to the unusual story of the pint-sized poet with the big book deal--- have descended upon the loft in West Oakland where Sahara lives with her mother, Elisabeth Sunday. Her father is former Black Panther Johnny Spain.
The media crush has included visits from ``The Today Show'' (which taped interviews for a segment on Sahara expected to air next month), the New York Times Magazine, the London Times, the BBC and a publication from France. ``It's daunting,'' Elisabeth says of the blitz, adding that she tries to carefully juggle her daughter's media commitments in a way that will keep the process fun for Sahara and not overwhelm her. A photographer who travels throughout the world, Elisabeth says she wasn't surprised to see her little girl's poetry get published.``When you're an artist and come from an artistic family, it seems absolutely natural that (your) work should be in the world,'' she says. ``That's what artists do. It's sort of an affirmation of the talent I know is inside of her.''
Artistic rewards aside, Mom also knows there's a very tangible benefit to this book deal: All of the money is going straight into a fund to help pay for Sahara's education.``As a single mom, I'm saying to myself, Yes! College fund!''
Even the most prominent names in poetry don't earn the kind of book advance Sahara received, and most working poets struggle just to make ends meet. So, are the poems penned by this precocious 9-year-old dazzling enough to warrant such an eye-opening investment by a publisher? It depends on who you ask. (More on that later.) Sahara's verse focuses on themes like love and nature. She says she wrote her first poem at 5-- a piece that's called ``Mother's Milk'': ``When I drink mother's milk,/my heart sweats with love.'' Another short poem in the book is ``Wings of a Butterfly'': ``You give me wings,/like a butterfly,/dancing with you,/upon two hearts,/together.''
She writes rapturously about her mother in one poem--``You're the best that the Gods and/Goddesses brought into life''--and tackles the topic of reincarnation in another: ``I believe that everything is/everything/and everybody is every body,/just with a different personality/and in a different form of life.''
Reading her poems at Diesel earlier this month, Sahara is a poised and polished performer. Self-assured, too: After a book-store employee introduces her to the audience, the little girl corrects the woman's pronunciation of her name: It should be ``sa-HARR-a,'' not ``sa-HAIR-a.''
She recites her works clearly and thoughtfully. Each time she finishes reading the poem, she sticks the book out over the podium and toward audience members so they can see the pictures that accompany the work. Sahara's plenty cute, charming the audience with her comments. One woman asks what she thinks of all the attention that's been coming her way. ``I'm just a normal kid,'' the girl replies. ``For instance, yesterday I rolled around in the mud at school.''
Sahara's fans include celebs like Bill Cosby and Bonnie Raitt-- who both contributed book blurbs to ``If There Would Be No Light''-- as well as Gloria Steinem, who penned the introduction. Last year, Steinem had Sahara introduce her at an awards dinner for Ms. Magazine.
Despite the girl's high profile, not many people show up for the Oakland reading. There are about a dozen in attendance, including a few small kids brought by their parents. But those who are here are impressed by what they see. ``I think her insights and the spiritual connection she brings forth in her writing are astounding,'' says Lisa Peizer, who has worked as a second-grade teacher. The Berkeley resident buys two copies of Sahara's book.
Others, however, aren't quite as awed by the young author's talents. In his New York Times Magazine piece, Dwight Garner says marketing appeal is a big part of HarperSanFrancisco's infatuation with Sahara. In a culture that hungrily consumes authors' revealing memoirs, as well as spiritually oriented and self-help books, Sahara's work fits into a perfect niche, he explains. And the fact that she's only 9 lends the poetry an attractive air of emotional innocence. Garner writes that the ``feminist-spiritual worldview'' in her work reflects a voice that is ``part Maya Angelou, part Raffi, part Ram Dass.'' In a London Sunday Times piece that ran last year, Britain's poet laureate, Andrew Motion, was asked his opinion of Sahara's work. He compared it to greeting-card verses: ``It's a bit Hallmark.''
Sahara's background is also full of the stuff publishers love. Even her alliterative, poetic-sounding name---Sahara Sunday Spain---has an exotic quality to it. The girl is the daughter of racially mixed parents---Sunday and Spain, who were divorced in the early '90s. Spain was one of the San Quentin Six, a group of inmates who attempted a violent escape from the prison in 1971. A shootout killed three guards and three prisoners. Spain was convicted of murder in the attempted breakout, but his conviction was overturned and he was released from prison in 1988. Sahara has not seen himin several years.
Sunday has taken photographs all over the world and she takes Sahara along on her adventures. Her daughter has met Mother Theresa in India, talked to aboriginal elders in Australia and sat with Buddhist monks in Thailand. Collectors of Sunday's work include Cosby, Raitt, Alice Walker and Quincy Jones.
Sahara is immersed in the arts. Besides writing, she paints, dances, sings, speaks French fluently, plays the violin and piano, and writes music. She's a student at the Nueva School, a private school for gifted children in Hillsborough---Sahara and her mom BART over to the Peninsula each morning---and she's also a member of the San Francisco Girls Chorus.
Despite her mature interests, Sahara is also very much a 9-year-old. She shows up to her reading at Diesel with a little stuffed bunny rabbit in her dress pocket and, later in the evening, giggles as she acts out a Shel Silverstein poem for a new friend. Sahara is not thrilled at having boys around. She loves to read ``Harry Potter'' along with Shakespeare and Pablo Neruda.
Meanwhile, Sahara has written about 50 new poems. She's already authored several hundred. The youngster says when the spirit moves her, she is compelled to write down the words and images that rush into her head. ``It makes me feel like I've accomplished something,'' she says of writing poetry, ``and my heart feels very warm.''
You can e-mail Paul Sterman at psterman@angnewspapers.com
