ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the age of nine, Janey (Sylvester) Volden, left England , the country of her birth, to travel with her family to live in Kenya , East Africa .

Over the next 25 years, Janey and her brothers and sisters, Julian, Roger, Judith and Caroline traveled on many safaris where they learned to appreciate the vastness and beauty of Africa and its peoples.

As a teen, Janey, accompanied by friends and her then stepfather, Victor Burke, traveled in a LandRover convoy over one thousand miles through the Northern Frontier District to Ethiopia; an extremely dangerous journey because of raiding Shifta (bandits) hiding out at that time in remote areas.

It was on this safari that she visited Dumbuluk* spring-water well where she met several young adults of the Borana tribe. Janey—inspired to write a novel from her diary notes and photos made while in the Dida Galgalu desert—was left with a life-long interest in the area and its peoples.During her schooling in East Africa and later working with the Food & Agriculture Organization/ United Nations Development Programme (FAO/UNDP), Janey had the opportunity to make friends with people from all nations.

By 1980, Janey married hydrologist Basil Bell, but was sadly widowed when their son, Oliver, was a few months old.Emigrating to British Columbia , Canada , Janey joined her mother Margaret and stepfather Charles Hayes as a partner in publishing the South Okanagan Review newspaper.

In 1982, Janey met Bruce Volden. They married in Penticton BC one year later. Their son Casey Duff Volden was born in 1985. Janey and Bruce reside in Okanagan Falls, BC .           

Volden is active in her writer's community, Penticton Writers and Publishers, winning contest awards for both young adult and children’s writing at the Penticton Writer’s Conference in 2003 and 2004.

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More from Janey Volden:

"Discovering One of Mexico's Best Kept Secrets: Melaque, Mexico"

"Janey Volden: Remembering the People and Adventures of Kenya" by Liz Burnett, Editor of Okanagan Artworks magazine, August 2010

* pronounced Doom-boolook

 

“Janey Volden, in her first book, draws on personal experiences to capture the atmosphere of Kenya ’s harsh and often violent Northern Region. Moreover she is a skilled raconteur with a realistic story to tell. Let’s hope that this will be the first of more novels to come.”  

 Julia Lawrence

Travel News & Lifestyle,

Nairobi , Kenya .

 

“…Riley, a Canadian teenager, is immersed in African culture when she visits her friend Gabbra’s home in Kenya . After experiencing some very harsh reality and learning the magic of Gabbra’s Song, she makes another discovery—that young people can make a difference in the world. Volden takes the reader on an exciting adventure with her vivid way of writing. It is a wonderful book.”  

Ruell Smith, Community Librarian, Okanagan Falls , British Columbia , Canada .

 

"Teenagers from completely diverse backgrounds meet, with narrowing eyes, to look at each other’s lifestyles; their emotions; only to learn they are not so different after all. GABBRA’S SONG is a poignant story of intrigue that ends in tender young love under an African sun; a story that is important to young people growing up in a new world where, hopefully, the poison of old racial issues will be swept away in a new understanding and respect of whom we really are."

Rima Publications, BC

 

 

 

 

 

 

Janey Volden

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