Read My Mind - The Best of 2018!

In 2018 we have been extremely productive with Read My Mind. We had so many different topics to talk about. The Best of Lily Amis 2018 features the most visited interviews and articles from the spring, summer, and winter issues. So it is the best way to catch up and discover new books and talented people.  Enjoy the read!  

Clarification!

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There is a saying: ”Don’t judge a book by its cover“. Well I feel like I should make a statement regarding the title of my memoir, which was published in Italy last November and was presented at the book fair in Rome  “Piu Libri, Piu Liberi” in December 2018.

“Destinazione Libertà, una voce per tutti quelli che non ce l'hanno”, in English: “Destination Freedom, The Voice for the Voiceless” is an honest memoir about my difficult experiences as a war refugee in Switzerland. My voice for the voiceless is for all the refugees worldwide, who suffer under horrible refugee laws, which take away your dignity and human rights. Most importantly the right for an independent life. The right for a proper education and employment. The right for a fearless and safe future.

It is unfortunate that Italian journalists made the false assumption that the title and subtitle of my book is a protest against my birth country Iran. They couldn’t be more wrong! If they had taken the time to read the entire book, they would have realized that my PROTEST is against International refugee laws. Especially in Switzerland, where my mother and I were treated like criminals.

My experience is from three decades ago. But the reality is that to this date refugees have very small and unrealistic chances of being adopted into their new country and becoming part of society. My protest is against people like the Italian Minister Salvini, who is against refugees and forces a NON-Profit organization like Baobab Experience (a safe shelter for refugees in Rome) to shut their doors in winter and put hundreds of innocent and helpless refugees on the street, making them homeless in the holy city of Rome, just a few steps away from the Vatican and the Catholic church! I wonder if people like Mister Salvini know anything about Karma. How can you sleep at night, when you are responsible for such a cruel, heartless and irresponsible action? That’s my voice for the voiceless!

I’m afraid the false assumption by Italian journalists at the book event happened because of another book that was presented at the same time on the same stage. I 100% distance myself from the other book! I think by leaving the stage before the second book presentation began, I made a clear statement. I distance myself in general from anything and anyone that is insulting my beloved birth country Iran, my beautiful culture, my mentality and my religion.

My Highlight Of 2018!

 

What a great way to finish a year that was fully dedicated to the wonderful country of Italy. When I decided to translate my children books into Italian in November 2017, I couldn’t predict that only a year later I would be presenting my memoir DESTINAZIONE LIBERTÀ at the Book Fair in Rome, published by a traditional publishing house in Rome.

 

Four years of hard work and determination paid off. Being at the Book fair “Piu Libri Piu Liberi” was not only my highlight of 2018, but the highlight of my writing journey so far. Feeling understood and welcomed in a foreign country, was the best feeling ever. It gave me power and believe to continue my writing journey, as a self-published, but now also officially and traditionally published author.

 

 

 

Thank you to my Publishing house in Rome, the Armando Editore Team for being so lovely and supportive. Thank you to my lovely publisher Enrico Iacometti for giving me the chance to be the voice for the voiceless in Italy. And most importantly thank you to the lovely Maria Sara Cetraro for presenting my book and translating my answers during the book presentation. You were amazing! Grazie!

 

If you like to see clips from the book presentation and pictures with my Publisher team, please go to my Instagram Account @Lily.Amis

Lily

My memoir Destination Freedom is published in Italy!

 

Exciting news!

 My memoir Destination Freedom

was released today on November 15th 2018 in Italy !

Get your copy on Amazon!

 

 

DESTINAZIONE LIBERTA

Una voce per tutti quelli che non ce l'hanno

Lily, bambina creativa e spensierata, si affaccia alla vita con l'ottimismo e le speranze tipiche di un'infanzia serena. Studia e colora, sogna e socializza, amata e circondata da un ambiente familiare pieno e significativo. Non sa che grossi nuvoloni neri si stanno addensando sul suo amato paese. Una guerra assurda, sanguinaria e inumana la strapperà dai suoi affetti e dalle sue radici. E' l'inizio di un'odissea. Un girovagare alla ricerca esasperata e sconfortante di un angolo di mondo in cui sentirsi, finalmente, al sicuro. E' l'ancestrale viaggio di ognuno di noi verso un luogo da poter chiamare casa, verso una dimensione di significatività e realizzazione. E' l'aspettativa, sempre disattesa, di poter esprimere i propri talenti, il proprio essere, di poter srotolare la vita e le capacità in un contesto sereno. In un racconto diretto, realistico, abitiamo con Lily la dimensione della sopravvivenza, in una successione surreale di eventi che si materializzano sul suo cammino quasi per un gioco perverso, la protagonista sperimenterà cinismo, indifferenza, superficialità, non sense burocratici, perdite dolorose, continui ostacoli, scelte sbagliate, sempre sul limite della disperazione. Ne verrà fuori più matura, ma anche più disillusa e consapevole. La vita non è un film per bambini, da qui l'amara riflessione che ne scaturisce:"ha tutto questo un senso? La legittima aspirazione alla libertà può forse portare a sopravvivere piuttosto che a vivere? Cosa resta in mano quando si è perduto tutto, l'identità, il progetto vitale, la propria cultura, i propri affetti e persino i bei ricordi?". Eppure, Lily, non smette di tenere gli occhi ben puntati sulla vita... Una storia vera, intensa, appassionante, amara e reale, sulla bellezza del coraggio umano di fronte alla vita...

 

 

 

Read My Mind Winter issue 2018 is out now!

Our Winter issue 2018 is dedicated to the wonderful country of Austria. Travel back in time and discover the beauty of this historical country with us. Read inspirational and educational articles and my movie review in LilyWood about the Empress of Austria Sissi.

We had the pleasure to interview the talented artist Viktor Angelov from Macedonia. Also in interview Italian author, teacher and translator Elisabetta Verdone.

It is also an honor to feature my Italian Publisher Enrico Iacometti in Read My Mind and feature my guest Blogger Maria Sara Cetraro with her inspirational article about her meeting with author and founder of the Empathy museum Roman Krznaric. 

Another great movie review by Read My Minds film critic Trevor Pacelli about my favorite movie: AMADEUS.

THE RIGHTS OF REFUGEES

 

I have enrolled for the Free Online Course "Human Rights: The Rights of Refugees on edX" organized by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. I encourage you to do so too, if you are interested in defending and promoting the human rights of refugees. 

Lily
www.LilyAmis.com

  

 

Empower yourself to make a change!

 

What an amazing campaign in UK!

In UK (like in every other country too), people seeking refugee status are banned from working whilst they wait months, and often years (and even decades), for a decision on their asylum claim. Instead, they are left to live on just £5.39 per day, struggling to support themselves and their families, whilst the Government wastes the talents of thousands of people.

The @LiftTheBan campaign thinks that this is wrong and so do I. I too believe that people who have risked everything to find safety should have the best chance of contributing to society and integrating into communities. This means giving people seeking asylum the right to work so that they can use their skills and live in dignity. The Lift the Ban coalition is working to change this and to ensure that people seeking safety in the UK have the right to work.

LIFT THE BAN says exactly what Im saying for over three decades, which is: GIVE PEOPLE SEEKING ASYLUM THE RIGHT TO WORK!

PLEASE SUPPORT AND SIGN THE PETITION NOW!

 

Thank you for respecting my work and my time!

 

Months ago I was asked by an IG-Blogger, if I would answer a few questions about my journey as a self-published author and my books, which I gladly did. Since my answers haven’t been published to this date, I have decided to share them here on my own blog.

Not appreciating the time that I made is really unfortunate and it was definitely a lesson for me not to make time for other bloggers, unless I’m 100% certain that it will be appreciated, respected, and published.

 

I also received messages on IG from so-called book reviewers. Let me tell you this. If you are interested in reading and reviewing my book, please download the ebook and do not insult me by asking me for free copies, when my stories are listed for only $0.99 - $3.99! Seriously!!! Thank you for respecting my work and my time.

So here we go… These were my answers…

Lily

  

1. One fictional character that resembles you the most?

As funny and strange as it may sound, I often see myself in my favorite children's book character Pinocchio. Of course, I’m not a boy and I’m also not a lying wooden puppet, but Pinocchio’s naivety often reminds me of my own mistakes. Pinocchio believes what he hears and always sees the good in people. He is giving and forgiving. The problem is many people use his naivety and kindness. It seems that the more giving, caring, and trustworthy one is the more people take advantage of you and mix up your kindness with stupidity. That’s a hard and painful lesson that I still need to learn.

 

2. What is your writing motivation?

With my memoir, my motivation was to write an eye-opening, honest, and touching book about the delicate topic of Refugees and try to make a change in our society about this important issue.

 

With my children's books, my writing motivation is to tell stories that are inspiring, entertaining but also educating. I think stories that we read as children are really important life lessons. The sooner we learn about honesty, integrity, loyalty, kindness, and respect towards everyone the better people we become as adults. Unfortunately, it seems to me that many parents and teachers don’t pay much attention to these values these days. And this motivates me to write meaningful and educational stories.

 

3. Who's your favorite author?

To this date, the Italian author Carlo Collodi with its children's book series “The Adventure of Pinocchio”. You probably wonder why a children's book series about a wooden puppet is my favorite story. I tell you why. In my opinion, Pinocchio’s character and his maker old Geppetto are the most educational story for young and adult readers to this date. Collodi wrote about trust, honesty, kindness, integrity, discipline, respect, self-respect, loyalty, and the importance of education. After writing my memoir, I had to find a genre that I enjoyed writing and reading the most and Carlo Collodi's stories inspired me to become a children and YA author.   

 

4. Few quickies:
Money or fame? Money. With money, you can buy fame! :-)

Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Literary Fiction.
Blogging or vlogging? Blogging

Interviews or book reviews? Definitely Interviews! The only reason why I wrote my memoir Destination Freedom, is to share my story and be the voice for the voiceless. The refugee topic has become a global disaster. The sooner the world and our clueless society understand the difficulties and challenges of these innocent refugees and victims of greed for more power by our global leaders, the better.  

Audiobooks or ebooks? Audiobooks

5. Why did you chose indie publishing?

It took me years to understand that Publishing companies have their own policy and rules. You don’t get rejected, because you’re not a good writer. You also don’t get rejected because your story isn’t interesting. You get rejected for several other reasons.

All my life I was rejected by society, because of my nationality, my religion , etc. So to be honest I was sick and tired of being rejected once again by an industry that doesn’t care about me, nor my story and my goals in the first place. After receiving dozens of standard rejection letters from Publishers, in Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and America, I’ve self-published my memoir in 2004 in English and German. And I re-published it in 2014 with a new title and new cover.

6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations?

The only difference between self-publishing in 2004 and 2014 was social media. Back then we didn’t have all these platforms to promote our work.

7. What do you think is the most important advantage of indie publishing?

The most important advantage is freedom. And Freedom is my favorite word of all. All my life I was looking for Freedom and with this new journey as a self-published author, blogger, and illustrator, I have found my peace of mind. I have the freedom to decide what I write and when I publish it. Freedom is the most priceless and powerful gift we have as Indie authors and as a human being.

 

 

8. What do you think is the biggest challenge?

Promoting the book is the biggest challenge. There are many gifted authors who try to make a living with writing. Despite having the benefits of social media it really is hard to stand out and find your readership. Followers are not necessarily your readers and Likes don’t pay the bills.

9. Who's your favorite indie author so far?

In the last 3, 5 years I have met a few talented and passionate Indie authors from all over the world. I not only read their books but also had the chance to interview and feature their work on my blog or in my blogger magazine Read My Mind. So if you like to discover new books by great Indie authors, check out my blog: lilyamis.blogspot.com or read my seasonal blogger magazine Read My Mind, which is available three times a year (April, July, November) under www.nassima-design.com/RMM/.

 

10. Could you kindly introduce us to your book(s) in brief?

I have written fifteen books to this date and will only introduce five of my babies here. Please visit my website www.LilyAmis.com to find out more about my other books. My print books are available on Amazon. My ebooks and audiobooks are available in several online stores such as Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Kobo, Apple, Libro, and many more.

 

Read My Mind Summer issue 2018 is out now!

The Read My Mind Summer Issue 2018 is out now. This time our magazines topic is Family Friendly Entertainment. We hope you enjoy the articles about Walt Disney, The Fairy Tale King, The Next Generation, God bless the 80es and 90es, and the long article about my Childhood Hero! 

If you haven’t discovered Read  My Mind yet, here is a little history. Read My Mind is an exciting and international magazine with fresh, educational, and informative content. The concept was born in January 2017 and it is available three times a year. In spring, summer, and winter. The official trailers give you a great feeling for the high energy we bring to every page of this gorgeous and colorful magazine, which is available online (free) and in print.

With us, you discover new authors, books, movies, publishing news, and you will meet inspiring people and learn about historical places. This magazine is all about making your life better and giving you awesome content that educates & entertains.

Read online      Order in print

  

 

Bunny & Turtle is out now!

 

My latest ebook “Bunny & Turtle, snob & shallow versus smart & slow!” was released in April. The print version with colorful illustrations will be available soon. We are still working on the images. So stay tuned….

While my other new book “Leo & Mousi, Refugees Unwanted!” is all about friendship and kindness, the story of “Bunny & Turtle” is about honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, too many people make their way through life by fooling others with lies and cheats. Fortunately, you can fool yourself and others only for a while, because lies don’t travel far. That’s a hard lesson that bunny will learn the hard way.

Even though these two characters have nothing in common, they do have the same goal. Two successful self-published authors, a turtle from Rome, and a bunny from Napoli are competing at a writing contest in Florence! The winning prize is a publishing contract and a movie deal. Who is going to win the contest? The hard-working and honest turtle or the lazy charlatan bunny?

Bunny & Turtle is a timeless story with meaningful, educational, and inspiring messages for children and adults about honesty, integrity, and self-respect! 

Meanwhile this lovely and educational story is also available in German and Italian. Find all the links to the illustrated book in print and ebooks on my website www.LilyAmis.com

Enjoy the read and don't forget honesty is the key to happiness! :-)

 

 

Read My Mind Spring issue 2018 is out now!

The spring issue of Read My Mind Magazine 2018 is online. While we had permanent bloggers in 2017, we will be featuring only guest bloggers from time to time in 2018. Every issue is going to be dedicated to one topic. 

The spring issue is dedicated to the wonderful country of Italy with its amazing history, artists, and writers. Read the informative article about the Kingdom of Italy the beautiful city of Florence. Meet Italian author Carlo Collodi and inspirational personalities such as Maria Montessori.

Read my honest articles about social media, “Fiction verses Non-Fiction” or “Authors don’t sell yourself short”! Also interesting is my interview with the brilliant and successful British Novelist Julia Blake, the author of Becoming Lili, and five more novels. 

Like always there is also a movie review in my column Lilywood and a touching film review by American author and film critic Trevor Pacelli about the fantastic movie “My Name is Khan”. So what is holding you back? Enjoy the read…

Read My Mind the Free blogger magazine by nasSima design.com

In 2017 the first three issues had over 150 000 readers. That’s why I have decided to publish an online magazine with the best of Lily Amis. These have been the most visited articles and interviews. It includes interviews with my beautiful and talented mum designer Sima, British actor Kevin Leslie, Welsh singer James Kennedy and articles like “What makes you think you are an author?” or “From Book to Audiobook”, “The true story behind Adidas and Puma” and much much more… I hope you enjoy the read.

http://www.nassima-design.com/RMM/bestoflilyamis/mobile/index.html

Leo & Mousi, Refugees Unwanted! is out now!

 

Leo & Mousi, Refugees Unwanted is an educational, eye-opening, timeless story that connects with people of all ages. Inspired by the refugee crises in Europe that was created by greed for power by so-called modern western countries and has destroyed millions of innocent’s life’s and countries. Too many people lost everything they had and loved to become war refugees! A painful journey that leads to a future in misery and uncertainty.

The story of the little refugee mouse, Tobi, tells us that we should never judge anyone by their size, race, and looks! Because there is a little mouse in every mighty Leo and a mighty Leo in every little mouse. Never underestimate anyone! Treat everyone with kindness, understanding, respect and love.

 

The symbolic meaning behind “Leo & Mousi”

If you have read the memoirs, Destination: Freedom and Definition of Freedom, you don’t need an explanation/translation for this deeply meaningful story. You will figure everything out and get the message between the lines. 

 

This story is inspired by the memoir Destination: Freedom. The little helpless mouse, immigrating to a new forest, is how the author, Lily, sees herself and her mum, Sima, moving to a new country in Europe as war-refugees. The arrogant, selfish, power-hungry, judgmental, and unfriendly Leo represents the European countries and their way of treating refugees with rejection and disrespect.

 

Mousi’s desperate desire for acceptance and tolerance, a circle of loving friends and the feeling of belonging somewhere and of being integrated, is what many refugees/immigrants feel and struggle with. Some struggle just for a while, others for their entire life. But, as they say, there is always light at the end of the tunnel and this story, with a happy ending, is a good lesson to never give up on hope, faith, dreams, goals, wishes, and desires, despite the challenging obstacles, of destiny and our selfish, elbow-society!

Meanwhile, this lovely and meaningful story is also available in German, Italian and Spanish. Find all the links to the illustrated book in print and ebooks on my website www.LilyAmis.com