Hello! Hi. It’s been a while. I meant to have this post up earlier, but as tends to happen, life got in the way. You are probably shocked to see a post from me, I mean, it’s been years! It’s a post I have been meaning to write and finally am able to sit down for a while and get it onto the page. Where do I begin? 

March 16, 2023 was the 10th anniversary of Forever Bookish. It honestly blows my mind that it has been this long since my first post…I feel I am many decades away from “Xander’s YA Book Reviews,” which my 11-year-old self called my blog back before I realized I was mostly reading middle-grade. How times have changed. I felt both proud and bittersweet celebrating this day, realizing how much my life has changed and thinking about how this blog was my everything. Now, it is mostly a part of my history, and still I carry elements of it into my present and future, just not in the capacity as before. 

On March 16, the 10th Anniversary, I was traveling for Spring Break through Saudi Arabia, and I spent the day in Jeddah with friends wandering around the Old Town and enjoying the sunset over the Red Sea on the Corniche, watching the world’s tallest fountain. It was a truly special day!

You might be wondering how I ended up in Saudi Arabia; it isn’t exactly next door to Austin, Texas! Let’s start from 2020, around the time Covid hit. It was my senior year of high school, and I had spent months applying to colleges. In March, I had one of the best bookish months right before Covid shut down the world. At this point, I had no idea it would be my last book festival for a while, but I drove up to Dallas and attended the North Texas Teen Book Festival. I got to see some bookish friends, and I also got to see John Green speak, a dream of mine for a long time! I remember whispers of Covid there, and already people were starting to avoid hugs and handshakes.

A couple days later, I got to catch up with David Levithan and attend his event at BookPeople for 19 Love Songs.

And then one day after that, on March 11, I reunited with my favorite author Jason Reynolds for the release of Stamped. This was my last author event for over a year, and what a good one to end with. These three events were likely some of the last in-person book events in the country before everything went online and I felt so lucky to be able to attend them; Zoom really made me feel even more fortunate to have such a vast resource of author events and festivals in Texas, thanks mainly to BookPeople.

After Covid hit, I found myself in the biggest reading slump I had ever been in. I could not focus long enough to read an entire book. This continued for many months, and in August, two major life events happened: I moved to Greece, and I started university.

My family had decided to move to Greece permanently; my dad’s side of the family lives there, and I spent my summers there growing up. Now it was time to say goodbye to the book community I had cultivated and become a part of over the years, and it was exponentially more difficult because goodbyes had to be said virtually. I spent my summer weeding my collection and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Each book held such a specific memory and story that it was hard to let go. 

Feeling lighter and with only a handful of books with me, I started my university experience at NYU Abu Dhabi online from my family’s house in Greece. In January, the borders finally opened a bit and we were able to go in person to the campus. So within 5 months of moving across the world, I moved again–this time to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

I had been studying Arabic for four years, and realized I wanted an international college experience. NYUAD was the perfect intersection of these interests, and as I just finished my third year there, I can say it was the right decision. I am studying Social Research and Public Policy, with minors in Arabic and Creative Writing. Covid times in Abu Dhabi were super difficult and restricted, but there were still opportunities to get involved in the book world. In May 2021, I went to the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, and had a blast! Most of the books and displays were in Arabic, but it was so fascinating seeing the similarities between this Book Fair and the Book Festivals I had been to in the US. I felt like I was back in my element!

In November, I was invited to the Arabic Translation Launch Event of Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, which was held at Emirates Palace. This was by far the fanciest author event I have been (and probably will ever go) to. There were waiters walking around handing out desserts with gold leaf on them, a cellist, and headsets for Arabic-English translation. I was super impressed!

In 2022, I started working for Magrudy’s bookstore as a consultant for the NYUAD bookstore branch. Magrudy’s is like the Barnes & Noble of the UAE, and I was extremely excited to be even more involved in the book world! I am still working for them, creating social media content, marketing plans, and more programming to promote the store. 

As Covid restrictions started lifting, I took advantage of Abu Dhabi’s strategic location and cheap flights and started traveling…a lot! If I find cheap flights, I will take a weekend and go to a new country. I work some on-campus jobs and try to get my schoolwork done efficiently so I can prioritize travel, as it really makes me feel alive. I have also started documenting my travels and adventures in and out of the UAE on my and my girlfriend’s Instagram account @passportsandpolyglots. This is my new passion project, and I am hoping to grow it as I continue traveling. I can’t seem to stay away from content creation. Go give it a follow if you want to see where in the world I am!

One of my favorite things to do when visiting a new country is to visit the National Library. Some people collect magnets, others send postcards…I try to visit the National Library of every country I visit, and I have visited 30 so far. I really love seeing how countries prioritize literature and reading, and what physical form it takes as a national symbol in each country. I have thought about writing my experiences at each one (with pictures of course) but I don’t know if this interests others. Let me know what you think.

In June, I visited the Prague World Book Fair. This was super exciting to explore and see how so many people came out to learn about new releases, talk to publishers, hear from Czech authors, and eat at food trucks. It was a lovely environment!

I studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the fall, and I interned with the Buenos Aires Times. I got to focus on journalism writing again and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also got to cover a book release of the former president at the El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore, a place I had dreamt of visiting. It turned into my go-to study spot, and I felt elated every time I stepped through the door.

This past spring semester, I interned with the Greek Embassy in Abu Dhabi and got to have a look at the inner-workings of diplomacy. I really enjoyed my time, and met some incredible people there. I also started the Global Readers Book Club at Magrudy’s, and I am getting back into regular reading through this. The first two picks were “It Ends With Us” and “Lessons In Chemistry.” I am happy to say that I have now finally read a Colleen Hoover novel!

This summer is the last summer before I graduate. I am rolling around the idea of what comes next in my head, and I am trying to see how I can fit books or publishing into my future plans. I know that whatever I end up doing, books will play a role. It’s in my blood, it’s in my history. Although this blog has become all but dead, I will still keep coming back to it. It is a chapter in my life that didn’t close, just evolved. And I still would do anything for the YA community and the bloggers, authors and publishers who I have met and worked with along the way. This isn’t a goodbye, but a “see you soon” hopefully.

I am currently reading Circe by Madeline Miller. It feels fitting to read this on a Greek island, and so far I am enjoying it. But since it has been a minute, I see some Jason Reynolds coming up next in my TBR 🙂

Anyways, that is what I have been up to! Thank you for being here for these 10 years and for the love and support. I hope you all keep in touch and know that I am still around, just a bit busier. I miss you all!

Xander