In this episode, the second celebrating Empathy Day 2022, Toria talks to award winning author A.M.Dassu (Az) about why empathy is so important to her and her writing. She is an advocate for Empathy Day and how this event enables our young people to develop this important skill. In 2021, Az went on an Empathy Walk and this year she is striking up a power pose! Find out more here - https://www.empathylab.uk/
Az is a multi award-winning writer of both non-fiction and fiction including the internationally acclaimed novel Boy, Everywhere, one of The Guardian’s, Bookriot’s, Kirkus’s, American Library Association’s Booklist’s, CLPE’s and BookTrust’s Best Children’s Book of the Year. It has coveted starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist and Publisher’s Weekly and is also an American Library Association’s Notable Book. Boy, Everywhere also featured as one of The Guardian’s Children’s Best New Novels on publication in October 2020, is on Amnesty’s Books That Inspire Activism list and has been listed for 25 awards including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and Carnegie Medal, and is the 2021 winner of The Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction. 'Boy Everywhere' a moving story of survival which looks at the refugee crisis in a very different way. This book was part of Empathy Labs 2021 Read for Empathy secondary collection.
You can find her on Twitter @a_reflective or Instagram @a.m.dassu