One of Bermuda's newest residents hopes that her young adult writing will help to fill a void for young girls of colour who often read age inappropriate material in search of characters with which to identify.

Her novella 'Double Act' appears in an anthology called 'Hallway Diaries' released in September 2007 by publisher Kimani Tru. Other writers in 'Hallway Diaries' include Felicia Pride and Karen Valentin.

Ms Rigaud moved to the Island a few months ago when her attorney husband, Bernard Asirifi obtained a job in Bermuda. She has a magazine background and has worked for magazines such as Seventeen Magazine, Essence, CosmoGirl! and Inside TV Magazine among others.

"Recently, magazines were doing poorly and shuttering their doors," said Ms Rigaud. "It got to the point where they either had to lay us off or shut the magazine down all together. It was a volatile situation, so I said: 'let me go into fiction writing', which is what I always wanted to do."

A friend referred her to an agent who was a veteran in the book publishing world.

"My agent believed in teen literature and she thought it might help young people," said Ms Rigaud. "She said there has been a problem with black kids reading not age appropriate books, just because they identified with the characters. They had been reading a lot of erotic novels and things like that. Lots of teachers and people have been saying 'thank goodness for this age appropriate book'. It works out as three novellas, so readers can dive into which ever they want."

'Double Act' is about a double Dutch skipping champ named Mia who changes from a public school in her neighbourhood to a suburban private school. She wants to maintain her relationships with her old friends while making new friends.

"It is commentary about some inadequacies in education," said Ms Rigaud.

"The main character's old friends in the city call her a sell-out. It is about just how she balances her old friends and her new, and her old identity with her new. It is questioning those types of lower values among some kids who just want to be cool at the expense of their education and future. It is not just for black or Latino girls. There are lots of different races and ethnicities in there. It is based on my hometown in East Orange, New Jersey."

She said the story is based on her own experiences growing up. As a kid she had to take two buses to get to a school in the suburbs.

"A lot of kids in my neighbourhood went to public school and wore their own clothes and they were looking at me with my uniform and my heavy bag. They would be calling me a nerd. At my school, everyone cared about academics and it was competitive."

Ms Rigaud started writing in high school when her guidance counsellor urged her to enter writing contests to earn some money for college.

"Then I started actually winning the contests," said Ms Rigaud. "I also kept poetry books and journals."

Her parents were Haitian immigrants who cared deeply about education. Three of Ms Rigaud's sisters are doctors.

"I wanted my own path," she said, jokingly: "My parents said it was alright to be a writer as long as I was writing at the New York Times and covering the White House."

Instead of covering the White House she found herself on the fluffier side of journalism, which turned out to have its own rewards.

"I use to get letters from girls saying 'thank you, that article helped me'," she said. "We are not saving the world, but we are helping young women. I think in some cases girls' magazines tend to be fluffy. There are lots of quizzes like: 'does your crush love you?'. CosmoGirl is really great. For example, they had a campaign to put a woman in the White House by 2022. It is really informative. I worked there in freelance editing. I wrote a story about girls who are imprisoned for their boyfriend's wrongdoing. This is a growing problem for women. Their associations lead them down the wrong path. There were also entrepreneurial articles such as how to start your own business in the summer. I thought there was a lot of great information for girls in the magazine."

She said she also had fun working for Inside TV Magazine for awhile.

"That was great," she said, "because I got to interview producers and actors about what they were working on. That was fun; I loved that. Gossip and celebrity news is what is selling magazines nowadays. Unfortunately, money drives a lot of things."

Ms Rigaud is newly married. In September 2007, she married the boy next door, literally.

"We grew up living across the street from one another," said Ms Rigaud.

"But we never dated or anything as kids. Because I was a girl I had to stay indoors, but some of my boy cousins played with him in the street. I remember once when we were 13 he walked me to the grocery store. I thought he was really nice, but I was embarrassed to be seen walking to the store with a boy."

Years later, they met up again and started dating.

Ms Rigaud is currently working on a help guide for teenagers, and hoping to write some more fiction while she is in Bermuda. She has plans to visit several local high schools to talk to students.

Her books are available in local bookstores, and are apparently selling well.

For more information about the author, go to her website at http://www.debbierigaud.com/