It was a tiny African village in Burkina Faso, 17 km from the Malian border, that the idea first came to me to write a story about a letter that travels halfway across the world from West Africa to Paris, New York to SoCal. Part of this was practical: I was bored out of my mind a lot of the time so I spent hours in the shade, reading, thinking of new ideas for future stories I hoped to write someday. Another part was cultural: knowing all of the steps it took for a letter to arrive in my village, and considering all the obstacles it faced along the way (like getting stolen, ripped open for money, stepped on, lost, used as kindle wood), mail was always a miracle to me. I mean, a lot of things had to happen in order for mail to get to you in West Africa. "City of Sand" tries to show all the people a single letter touches (read: affects) along the way bfore arriving at its destination. I took the idea of reading as travel literally. Hopefully, you feel like it takes you someplace you've never gone before.

Peace, Blessings,

—Jackson Bliss