Jawad Williams discusses writing about his children's adventures as he played basketball overseas.
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00:00 Tell me what started you writing children's books?
00:05 Since the birth of my kids, we made it a priority to make sure we read to our children.
00:11 We believe reading to children enhances their learning and everything like that,
00:17 opens their minds and opens their imagination.
00:19 And we've read so many children's books over their lifetimes,
00:23 it was pretty easy for me to put their life into books and here we are today.
00:29 So, just tell me how the idea sparked behind Paris and Tokyo.
00:36 Did you know from the beginning that you wanted to create a series around their travels?
00:42 No, I didn't. It was something that kind of just popped in my head one day.
00:46 I did realize that we live a very different life, being that we travel all around the world,
00:52 we live in some beautiful places and my children get to experience it.
00:57 That's the biggest thing for me. My children and my family get to experience a lot of things
01:01 that we probably wouldn't experience otherwise. I mean, probably would, but outside of playing basketball.
01:08 Basketball has taken me all around the world and every city that we're going to talk,
01:13 that we're going to write a book about, we actually have had the opportunity to live in those places.
01:18 So, each book means something different.
01:22 So, how involved are the kids in creating these stories?
01:27 They're pretty involved. I mean, they're real life stories. I show them, I read it to them first.
01:34 I read the manuscripts to them first and sometimes they come up with ideas that I forgot about
01:39 or they remember specific things that, like the snails in the Paris book,
01:44 they remember that specifically because I eat them so much.
01:47 So, little details like that and if they don't like anything, they can tell me, I'll take it out.
01:52 But for the most part, I think they love seeing themselves and hearing their story.
01:56 Now, what have you enjoyed most about writing about your kids?
02:01 I've enjoyed seeing the books actually in the hands of other children and seeing them enjoy it.
02:08 I've seen our book pop up in multiple countries.
02:13 I know a lot of my friends and friends actually used to take Paris book to teach their children how to speak English.
02:20 And I think that's huge. A lot of kids are opening a door for a lot of people and I love it.
02:27 I love it. Just seeing the reaction from other kids and parents.
02:30 And the parents telling me how much they enjoy reading the books to their children, it means a lot to me.
02:36 Now, what is the next city that the kids, if you can tell me,
02:41 or the next city's period that you're looking to venture into?
02:47 You can be exclusive.
02:50 Alright, so for the people who don't know, Nine Line Ash Take Paris and Nine Line Ash Take Tokyo are already out.
02:57 There's two more books and I won't release what cities they are.
03:01 I can't do that. I'll wait till the last second and I'll drop what the next two cities will be.
03:09 Was there any specific stories? What is your favorite story in each book that you just love telling?
03:19 For the Paris book, I'd probably say the trip to the Eiffel Tower.
03:23 Like I said, the children, they love going there. They always read about it.
03:28 They've seen pictures of it in books. It was actually 15 minutes from where we lived when we stayed in Paris.
03:33 We actually went to the Eiffel Tower quite often, sometimes just to kill time or after dinner, go walking around.
03:40 We would just walk around the Eiffel Tower. So that place was pretty special to us.
03:44 And then out of the Tokyo book, probably visiting the different temples.
03:51 Nash is huge on Lego Ninjago and things like that. So temples were everything for him.
03:57 He just wanted to run around and say he was going to be the next karate kid.
04:00 So Jaden Smith, when he played Karate Kid, even though it was based in China,
04:06 you still have the temples and everything in the background.
04:10 And it was very relatable for Nash and it gave him a sense of happiness.
04:15 Now you do have a pair of twins or twins. Actually, not a pair of twins, but you do have twins.
04:21 Do you see these the series or possibly a new series expanding with them in it?
04:29 I've already thought about that because I know when they get of age, they're going to ask me where is their book.
04:35 So my mind is already spinning the wheels. I kind of have some ideas I want to do with them.
04:43 It's a little different. It's a little different because it's two kids and, you know,
04:48 they're going to be traveling a lot as well. So I don't want to keep that same thing.
04:52 But I'm going to have something in store for the twins.
04:55 Now, how much harder was it to get into writing a book versus, you know,
05:00 playing basketball or if there are any similarities with it?
05:04 It actually wasn't that hard. It's just like playing basketball.
05:08 It's one of those things I kind of set my mind to and made up my mind that I was going to get it done.
05:12 You know, I started actually started writing the manuscripts about three years ago, three or four years ago.
05:21 And I just kept writing. I actually finished the third book already.
05:28 Third book is done. I just haven't. I'm not going to release it anytime soon, but it's not that hard.
05:33 And I just put my mind to it and made a made a conscious effort to move forward every day.
05:39 And here we are. You know, social media has been a great help.
05:44 And I needed an illustrator. That's how I found my illustrator.
05:46 I just put a tweet out there and got hit back at least 100 different illustrators.
05:52 I narrowed the list down. They sent me resumes. They sent me artwork.
05:56 They sent me sample artwork. And, you know, that's how I came to that conclusion with the illustrator.
06:02 And then we move forward from there. Now, before we get off, tell us something a little bit about Nala and Nash.
06:09 I know I've seen Nala's artwork on your Instagram page and your social media.
06:14 Tell us a little bit about them and what makes them so special.
06:18 Well, Nala is very in tune with the world. She's a real artsy little girl.
06:23 She loves to paint. She loves making new friends.
06:28 That's most of that comes from her upbringing. You know, from the time Nala was born, she was she was born, actually, when I was in Cleveland playing for the Cavs.
06:37 She went to school in Paris, Athens. We homeschooled in Turkey.
06:43 And she also went to school in Tokyo. So Nala is very in tune with the world.
06:49 She knows what's going on. She's like my little civil rights activist right now.
06:55 She knows what's going on with the protests. So she's very hands on. It was her who made me go to the protests.
07:00 And I appreciate her for doing that. And then Nash, that's my little superhero.
07:06 Nash is the one who wants to have fun. He's very athletic.
07:11 We have to force him to kind of slow down sometime. He's he's five.
07:16 He's a big five. And he he does things that I don't think normal five year olds do.
07:22 You know, so I just leave it at that. But when people point these things out to me, you know, it makes sense.
07:27 But Nash is our super athlete, our superhero. He wants to protect everybody.
07:32 He wants to protect the house. Just overall, great kid. I love both of them.
07:39 Now, I just I do see that they've been reading their books in various places.
07:45 How they've enjoyed kind of like a little a little press tour of their book.
07:50 They love it. They love it, especially Nala. She loves when she gets calls from other teachers to read to their to their classes.
07:57 Nash doesn't read as well yet. Like I say, he's only five. But he's getting there.
08:02 But Nala loves it. She loves it. She she's always offering something else.
08:07 Like I had to stop her one time because I did a live with her.
08:11 And she's talking about first person to buy a book gets a trip to Paris.
08:15 I'm like, come on, Nala, you're going too much. She loves it. She loves it.
08:19 And, you know, because of the circumstances, I had other things planned for her.
08:22 But I'm going to do some tours, some different libraries and schools. But, you know, because of COVID-19, it slowed everything down.
08:29 But I'm going to find different ways to get them more involved in the community and doing more readings.
08:37 Now, I know how important community and activism is to you.
08:41 Do they understand the the the impact that their books will have, not just for this year or even next year,
08:50 but the longevity of these books and what you're doing for them on their behalf?
08:55 I don't think they understand it quite yet. I don't think Nash does.
09:00 He's getting there. But I think Nala probably understands it more than more than I would think she does,
09:06 because, you know, she always talks about reading books of about kids that look like her.
09:11 That's a big thing for her. So that was another gap I wanted to fill.
09:15 You know, seeing children of color, seeing black kids traveling the world and being more than just athletes and things like that.
09:21 So there you go. Is there tell us how we can find the book and just how we can find you.
09:30 And also, yeah. Anything we can know about the book and social media?
09:35 Well, the books both are available on Amazon dot com.
09:39 If you type in Naila Nash, it should pop right up.
09:43 I will say Tokyo and I will say Paris.
09:46 You can follow their Instagram page at Naila Nash or my Instagram page, which is at Worldwide.
09:54 W.O.R.L.D. W.A.D. And the Naila Nash website will be launching very soon.
10:01 And when it does launch, we're going to do a little special for people who order the book through the website.
10:10 It will be signed by myself, by Naila and by Nash. And we'll do a limited run of those.
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