Most 11 year olds are busy being  11 year olds with life full of things like taekwondo lessons, guitar lessons, school, and maybe time left to just hang out.  Ajla Dizdarevic has not only found time in her busy life to write award winning poetry but she has just published her first collection! All Below My Window is a collection of 45 of her poems including her award winning poem “I See It, Too.” With the launch of this book and a second in the works Ajla still finds time for those taekwondo lessons and as well as being a student at West Music Cedar Falls Conservatory. 

Ajla has been in lessons with Rick Oltman since December of 2009 and is a typical student. She enjoys light rock and her favorite band is the Beatles. When asked if she had a favorite Beatles song she said she liked them all. She describes her teacher as “Cool” and “Nice.” She enjoys her guitar lessons but at this time doesn’t see any of her poems being set to music. 

For the Future Ajla’s not sure what will happen as she would like to be a writer of serious books or maybe fiction. There’s also a possibility of training to be a nurse or a doctor. But no matter what Ajla decides to be when she grows up it looks like her poems and music will be there with her.

Here is a Haiku from her book “All Below My Window”

The Guitar

A handcrafted neck

A beautiful black body

And six thick steel strings

Ajla Dizdarevic will be speaking at the Waterloo library on Oct 9^th at 11:00 and at the UNI library Oct 30^th at 2:00 she welcomes everyone to join her at these events.