Projects
From Books to Screen.
The Odyssey of Iz Film Project
A determined 13-year-old girl is blindsided when her parents tell her she is getting married soon. Desperate to avoid early marriage she ends up on an unexpected adventure through time and far-away places that will only end when she asks her guide, a chevron bead, the right question about life.
A story of determination, crossing cultural boundaries and pursuing a dream.
Young Adult Novel
A story of adventures
This is a story of adventures involving a talking chevron trade bead with the power to travel through time and a young Sudanese girl, Izdihar. Izdihar finds a beautiful chevron trade bead on the desert sands one night after a giant haboob dust storm. Desperate to leave the village before her parents marry her off to an old man, she asks the bead to take her back through its life. Her shock at suddenly sitting in a bead maker’s workshop in Italy in 1769, deepens when she realizes he is admiring the exact same bead she found on the desert 250 years later.
About Ikut Swami
Ikut Swami is a publication and production company established in honor of our beloved late Cristina Kessler, celebrating the legacy of her vision through her books, photography, humanitarianism and the education she gave to children and young adults around the world.
“With my books for kids I have a personal writing agenda, which is to get the good news out about Africa.” – Cristina Kessler