Local woman writes book on Princess Diana

Ruth Leper
For the North County Times

            Poway – The death of Princess Diana two years ago left Kay Kellam feeling distraught and wondering what would happen to society’s ideals following the tragic automobile accident that claimed the life of England’s former princess.

            Kellam, 25, used her writing skills to pen a short story to explain her mixed feelings of confusion and admiration.  “My original goal was to write a short story,” Kellam said.  “I started writing it the day after she died and had it done before her funeral.”

            After writing the short story, Kellam set it aside and didn’t look at it again for a year.  After giving it to a friend to read, Kellam decided it was time to turn it into a longer story.

            Her book, “A Life to Di For,” was published through Bernardo Press and released last month to coincide with the second anniversary of Diana’s death.

            “I did a lot of hypothesizing about would humanitarianism increase or decrease after he death,” Kellam said.  “I speculated about the next 400 years in society and what role Diana played in our development.”

            Kellam used the events surrounding Diana’s life to write a fictional story that starts out 400 years in the future, when a reporter travels back in time to investigate Diana’s death.

            “She’s a living example of reaching out to the lives we want to touch and take a chance on helping others,” Kellam said.  “We’re swinging the pendulum of society toward where you don’t even have to leave your house to shop, to talk to others, to do most of the things that make up daily life.  It’s becoming easier and easier to not care.  She’s a very good reminder of all the smiles and all the things that will come from reaching out to others.”  Kellam describes “A Life to Di For” as historical fiction that covers the events of the accident on one level, with love and friendship on another level.”

            Kellam said she settled on a 400-year time span for her book so she could draw on a future in which anything is possible.  “I wanted to write a book that shows… that anything can come true, and I can contribute to that in some way,” she said.  Kellam, a 1991 graduate of Poway High School, was inspired to become a writer by her parents love of writing, and by her English teacher, Linda Dollins.

            “I was very lucky I had a great English teacher,” Kellam said.

“A Life to Di For” ($17.95, Bernardo Press) by Kay Kellam is available for sale at amazom.com or the author’s website at www.kaykellam.com