SPENCER, Iowa - En route to Turkey later this week to promote her latest "Dewey" book, acclaimed author Vicki Myron says she sees just one problem.

"I'm hoping they'll have an interpreter for me because I don't 'talk Turkey.'" she said as she prepared for the voyage.

Myron's seven-day trip abroad to promote "Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library" is sponsored by Turkey's Ministry of Culture to coincide with Children's Book Week there. The picture book, released here in September, has been published in a number of languages, including Turkish.

The book is the second by retired Spencer librarian Myron and co-author Bret Witter. It was inspired by last year's best-selling hardcover nonfiction "Dewey: The Small-Town Cat Who Touched the World," which also came out in numerous foreign-language editions.

The trip to Turkey will mean postponing several planned Sioux City area events to promote the book until after the Thanksgiving holiday, Myron said.

But she's grown accustomed to the whirlwind life of a celebrated author. Last month, the Iowa Library Association honored Myron with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the group's annual meeting, a gathering she hadn't planned to squeeze into a busy schedule of book signings and interviews in Des Moines. However, a librarian friend conspired with her fiance, Glenn Albertson, to get her there.

The award, Myron noted, came as much for her years of work with the association as it did for her status as the "Dewey" author.

It was at one of her Des Moines signings, Myron said, that book sellers ran out of books twice.

"It's a good thing we carry a few cases in the trunk when we travel," she noted.