Bryan Mealer

William Kamkwamba, the co-author and subject of Bryan Mealer's new book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger, and a place where hope and opportunity were hard to find. But William had read about windmills in a book called Using Energy, and he dreamed of building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and change his life and the lives of those around him. His neighbors may have mocked him and called him misala—crazy—but William was determined to show them what a little grit and ingenuity could do. Kamkwamba embarked on a daring plan to bring his family a set of luxuries that only two percent of Malawians could afford and what the West considers a necessity—electricity and running water. Using scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves, William forged a crude yet operable windmill, an unlikely contraption and small miracle that eventually powered four lights, complete with homemade switches and a circuit breaker made from nails and wire. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is the remarkable story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. Bryan Mealer is also the author of All Things Must Fight to Live, which details his experience reporting the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2003–07 for the Associated Press and Harper's and which was featured at the 2008 Festival. In 2003, Mealer left his job as an assistant editor at Esquire to become a freelance correspondent in Nairobi, Kenya. Mealer was born in Odessa, and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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