My new novel, Lila, the Revolutionary, has just been published by Nascent Books, a new imprint associated with Athabasca University in Canada. Lila is a fable for adults about an eight-year-old girl—smart, charming, and tough as can be—who sparks a world socialist revolution. No one ever told her she couldn't end poverty and inequality, so she doesn't doubt that she can Just Do It! Starting with the Nike shoe factory where she works. Like the boy in "The Emperor's New Clothes," Lila can see the reality that adults are blind to. And she's not shy about pointing it out. The book is a call to action: If Lila can do it, so can we. Her story convinces us that Yes, a better world is possible, and we're the ones to create it.
William T. Hathaway's first book, A World of Hurt, won a Rinehart Foundation Award. He is also author of the novels Summer Snow, CD-Ring, Wellsprings: A Fable of Consciousness, and a nonfiction book, Radical Peace: People Refusing War. He wrote the screenplay for Socrates, an educational film starring Edward Asner that was broadcast on PBS. He is an adjunct professor of American studies at the University of Oldenburg in Germany. A selection of his writing is available at http://www.peacewriter.org.
