Join explorer and award-winning author, James Michael Dorsey, at Monterey Library's Community Room on Friday, August 14, 5pm-6pm, for a free talk entitled “Libraries Beneath the Sand." Register here - seating is limited.

Today, James will take us on a journey to Timbuktu that took place almost three decades ago but has never been told in its entirety until now.

About the Talk

James Dorsey had wanted to see Timbuktu, Mali, since he was a small child, to visit its libraries that once rivalled those of Alexandria, and to meet the famed “Blue Men” of the Sahara. Along the way, he followed a route taken by a previous explorer to also visit the ancient village of Arouane that predates Timbuktu by centuries.

At the time, James was not aware of the heavy presence of Al Qaeda in the northern Maghreb of Mali, or their rapid movement south to attack Timbuktu. Their stronghold was then so isolated that most of the world had not yet heard the name Al Qaeda.

Knowing that the sacred shrines and libraries of Timbuktu would be destroyed by them, he was recruited to help the Tuareg nomads evacuate the libraries and distribute priceless manuscripts across the lower Sahara to be buried by nomad families until it was safe to return them. Thousands of manuscripts were carried by camel caravans.

It was an epic journey to stay a step ahead of Al Qaeda and to save centuries of priceless African literature in a race against time and violence.