Former Mesa Community College faculty speaks at Mesa Public Library for release of her book “Jasmine Breeze”
Marla-Tiye Vieira, a former MCC faculty member who became the author of “Jasmine Breeze”, wrote the passionate story about a bi-racial woman going through her journey of self acceptance and had the opportunity to speak on the message behind her book at the Mesa Public Library on March 9.
Vieira was once an English as a second language instructor at MCC, however she had a passion for writing.
Vieira wrote the book as a young woman and expressed that despite all the division going on in today’s society, there is plenty to explore about what our commonalities are beyond race, gender, and religion.
When writing the book, Vieira saw it as a possible hope for the reader to try and bring people together.
“We’re here to love and I believe love is the strongest energy in the universe, for me Jasmine Breeze is a uniter, I mean I’m a dreamer, kind of a healer, and I just try to have people read this book and try to make some kind of world peace,” said Vieira
The book was written nearly 30 years ago and its resurgence came about in 2021. Vieira described her time during the pandemic and stated she simply had nothing much to do.
After a day of searching in her closet, Vieira discovered an unfinished manuscript for the story she had written years ago that would later become “Jasmine Breeze.”
Once Vieira wrapped up the story, it was sent to Olympia Publishers located in London, England. Vieira described her experience of seeing her book on local store shelves as surreal and reflected on her mother who inspired her journey to becoming a writer.
Vieira passionately incorporates many messages into the book, which she had the opportunity to talk about at an author speaking event at the Mesa Public Library.
Vieira was able to express her message of self love and engage with an audience while reading from her book.
The Mesa Public Library hosted these kinds of events in the past to support local authors and get their message across to the public.
“We really support the local author community and we know that there are so many passionate authors out there, and to have them come and share their experiences with the community and see their books in the collection, I’ve seen authors just light up when they see their books on the shelf. They’ve worked so hard to put this into the world and it’s out there so people can check it out. It’s really rewarding.” said Sara Lipich, marketing and communications specialist at Mesa Public Library.
In the book, Vieira expresses her passion for self love and reflects that through the journey of a young woman finding herself and embracing who she really is.
However, it’s clear that Vieira simply wishes for peace and equality among the world we live in today.
This story was edited on 3/25/2023 to correct an error made at the time of publication. The author’s name was corrected from “Viera” to “Vieira”.
