One Voice Press Acquires Rights to Important Biography

One Voice Press has acquired rights to a biography of the first Native American Bahá'ís in Canada. Written by Evelyn Loft Watts and Patricia Verge, Return to Tyendinaga tells the story of Jim and Melba Loft who, after encountering the Bahá'í Faith in Marysville, Michigan, returned to their homeland, the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory east of Toronto, Ontario, to teach their fellow Native Americans about the young religion.

For the Lofts, relocation meant leaving a comfortable middle-class life for one of economic hardship and initial rejection by their own people.  They would experience personal tragedy with the death of their son. Yet throughought these trials their faith and determination never waned. Their story is one of courage, forbearance, steadfastness, and love for their birth communities and for all humankind.

Several decades in the making, Return to Tyendinaga was begun by Watts, Jim and Melba's daughter, at her parents' request. Later, failing health led her to enlist the help of Verge, who carried the work to its conclusion with the help and encouragement of the Loft family.

The book will be the second release for One Voice Press, a company in its first year of operation. A release date has not been set, but company president Dale Lehman says it will likely be late October or early November.

"We are incredibly fortunate to be able to publish this book," Lehman says. "Native Americans have played key roles in the establishment and spread of the Baha'i Faith in the western hemisphere, and Return to Tyendinaga documents an important part of that history."

One Voice Press, LLC publishes inspirational literature based in the Bahá'í Faith. Established in 2010, the family-owned company is based in Essex, Maryland. Its books focus on faith in action and include memoirs, biography, fiction, and poetry.