Literary Scene: African sojourns inspire her books
BY DAVE HOWELL
Special to The Press
“Under African Skies” is a story about a romance between an American woman and an African game driver 25 years her junior.
A game driver transports tourists on a safari to view wild animals.
The love story only lasts for two years.
Sharon “Shaz” Smith has had a lifelong fascination with Africa, which might be her actual love story.
She brings the continent to life in her two books:
“Under African Skies: An American Woman and an African Tribesman, Two Souls Come Together and a Past Life Emerges” (485 pages, Blue Heron Book Works, paperback $26, 2026)
“Africa: Up Close and Personal” (112 pages, Blue Heron Book Works, paperback $35, 2026).
Smith took the photographs in eight national parks. Most of the photos are of animals, from elephants to dung beetles, with a few landscapes and portraits of tribal people. All show an amazing range of bright colors.
Smith’s Allentown home is filled with objects from her world travels. There are statues of shamans and a snake sculpture, ceremonial masks, and colorfully-patterned teak bowls that she buys whenever she visits Victoria Falls, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Sout...