Congratulations to Hazel Campbell! Silver Musgrave Medal

Heartiest congratulations to Hazel Campbell for being awarded a Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica for her 'contribution to children's literature and the encouragement of new writers', as indicated in today's Daily Observer. (Function will be held in early October). This is wonderful news. As you may know, Hazel is my great friend and fellow children's writer. She is a really talented writer, with a true sense of story, and the ability to bring humour into her writing, something which children love, and which in itself is a special skill. She is also a brilliant editor of children's' stories; she edits with sensitivity for the story and respect for the writer. That is, while adhering to good practice, tightening the story, (essential for all writers who are convinced that each 'present story' is a prized possession), she nonetheless allows the writer's own voice to be heard. It is no surprise therefore that she is the editor of the Sand Pebbles Pleasure Series, published by Carlong Publishers, Jamaica. In this series she has not only been midwife to the stories of Jamaican writers but also for the work of writers from the rest of the Caribbean who have published with Carlong.

Hazel's two latest books are Bernie and The Captain's Ghost (Carlong Publishers, Jamaica, 2010) a mystery and adventure, and A Goatboy Never Cries (LMH Publishing Ltd., Jamaica, 2009) detailing love for a pet and family relationships. My all time favourite, however, is The Challenge Match in the Get Caught Reading Series (Ginn, UK, 2007, also available from Carlong). Hilarious! Cricket anyone!

Hazel often teaches a children's writing course at the Creative Arts Centre, UWI. So check out the course and get the books. Well deserved award, Hazel! I am delighted for you. And of course, we also laud the Institue of Jamaica for recognising an author of children's books and children's writing.

Breaking News! Time travel might be possible after all

This astounding information was delivered in one of those announcements which we may never hear again. Breaking news! It seems that subatomic particles can go faster than the speed of light. Interview between anchor and a scientist on a reputable international news station. ‘The implications would be that physics as we know it, would be turned on its head’, says the scientist. ‘Give us an example,’ says the anchor. The scientist says something about the origins of life and space, which went clear over my head, naturally, but I did hear, ‘For example, time travel might be possible’. What you say? I heard it! I tell you, I heard it, man. So this fantasy might not be such a fantasy after all. If you missed that you may never hear it said again, because it might frighten people in the world so they much they couldn’t cope, or something like that. So it may well be like what took place on another international station of note, where after the recent tragic Japanese earthquake it was said that Japan had moved a few feet closer to the United Sates and perhaps that meant that the world was actually smaller than it was, hence time would speed up. By the next announcement the speeding up of time had disappeared, and I’m sure that we won’t hear anything about he world being ‘smaller’ either. How would people cope! So you won’t hear anything about time travel again. However this time travel reader/author heard it. Aha!

I read a column today from one of my favourite columnists, young, bright, a Jamaican, active both here and in the diaspora. And he explained that it is not ‘boasty’ to talk about one’s achievements on the various media. It has to be done in this world of social networking because that’s how you get the next contact, and so on. So with that in mind, and armed with the above revelations, I’ll remind you of my two Time Travel books, A Tumbling World…A Time of Fire (the protagonists inadvertently go back to the 1907 earthquake in Kingston), and The Ring and The Roaring Water, (where they deliberately go back to 1951, only to run into Hurricane Charlie). What contacts do I expect to make? Well, for one, I’d like to sell more of these, or have a ‘big time’ publisher take them over. Every author’s dream, eh!

And my two favourite Time Travel books are: A Traveller in Time by Allison Uttley, and the classic, Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. I have read both of them more than once. So yes, I wish we could believe that we in the Caribbean could also enjoy Time Travel like overseas people, and so want to read about it. And I wish my Time Travel books could travel, so I could feel encouraged to write the third.

On Winning a Commonwealth Short Story Competition

Special Award for a Children’s Story: The Happiness Dress
How does it feel? It feels pretty good actually! I also am very pleased to see that Barbara Jenkins from Trinidad, with whom I have run workshops, has also won an award. Congratulations to Barbara and all the others who won awards! Two of the winners are from the Caribbean! That’s noteworthy!

My reaction has caught me unawares. I admit that I am delighted and overwhelmed at getting this award, and overwhelmed at the number of persons who have congratulated me and their congratulations have been truly sincere and lovely. I’m pleased that people are happy for me. And I am giving thanks.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because as writers, we seek to understand feelings, and also, I always want to know specifically about other writers’ feelings. Perhaps you do too. I am like a traveler on a long, dusty road recognizing a fellow traveler. ‘What was it like where you were? Is there any water up ahead?’ sort of thing. And I remember thinking on Thursday, ‘This is how it feels to get something this outstanding; these are the emotions’. And then… ‘Now I can with greater authenticity give these emotions to a character in a story’.

What does the award mean to me? Essentially, it is a great honour; it is recognition for children’s writing in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Some people have suggested that my story would make a wonderful picture book; that would be lovely, wouldn’t it? However, what I hope is that this will make us more aware of Jamaican children’s literature, that we may understand that our stories are as good as ‘foreign’ stories, that it is of signal importance to support local children’s literature. I hope that it will inspire us in the Caribbean to seek out books from one another. We need to procure local/regional books for all our children. Even as I write this I recognize that I’ve said this before, and often, resulting only in sporadic bursts of interest and support. So what could be different now?

This is what I ask myself. How can I use this award, without appearing to be boasting, (because if is one thing we don’t like is our people appearing to be ‘boasty'. No sir. Is who they think they are?) to promote local children’s books? So I ask you, my readers, what would you suggest? How can this award be used to meaningfully advance the case of Jamaican/Caribbean children’s books?

For further information on winners and their stories visit the Commonwealth Foundation Website.

Boys reading: Humour and excitement for boys

As we address the challenge of boys not reading, any clue which points us in a direction or validates previous findings is instructive. This anecdote, which took place last week, fits in with Hazel Campbell's last post.

I happen to be talking with an officer of the law, in a perfectly legitimate situation, (he is about in his late twenties to early thirties, I think) and by way of making conversation I say, "I write children's books."
He is politely impressed and says, "At primary?"

I respond, "Yes, you may have used them in school? The Doctor Bird Reading Series. He is not sure, so I expand, "Books like Cat Woman and the Spinning Wheel and Sweet, Sweet Mango Tree." (These are by me and supposedly the favourites of many).

He doesn't remember those titles, but he says, "You mean, like the one with the hot porridge!"

I laugh with delight and say, "Oh that's not by me. That is by Karl Phillpotts, one of the other writers."

I am established as one of 'those writers', consequently a writer of some merit. What is the point of reporting this conversation?

The one with the hot porridge is Why Dog Don't Like Puss, an Anancy story in which Anancy causes Brother Dog to eat hot porridge, which turns Brother Dog against Brother Puss whose porridge was not hot. It's not a story that especially appealed to me. However, I can see where it might appeal to a boy. There is a trickster; somebody gets the worst of it; it's funny; there is a character 'bawling out'; and it ends with Brother Dog chasing Brother Puss . There is mayhem, and the everlasting enmity between dogs and cats has been explained uproariously.

This young man remembered that story after all this time! That is what is so astonishing. This gives us a clue about boys and reading. Anecdotal may not be the same as scientific evidence, but it does validate other findings. So start writing for our boys.

Jamaicans Racing!

One of the things I enjoyed about writing Island Princess in Brooklyn is that Princess represents us all. She is our flag bearer. Her life is our lives, her experiences could be ours. Her main challenge is adjusting to life in Brooklyn with her mother, and at her new school. Princess does not want to be perceived as a ‘needy migrant’ and this attitude makes it hard for her to make friends. She soon discovers that her classmates expect her to be able to run like our athletes. After all, all Jamaicans can run! But Princess is not remotely athletic. As she says, ‘the only running she has ever done is running to catch the bus’. So her classmates ‘have discovered a Jamaican that cannot run’. She cannot shine where they expect her to shine.

Therefore when their teacher gives them an essay to write about something that they miss from their previous school/country, Princess knows that every one expects her to write about Jamaicans racing at the Olympics. She does not want to fall into 'a trap', that of appearing to boast about her little country, which will make her even more unpopular. But how can she not write about one of the experiences that she misses most – Jamaicans racing? So Princess decides to write about this experience from the point of view of how people behave as they watch a race. She expects this essay to be marked by her teacher and returned in class. However, to her shock, the teacher asks her to read it aloud. Here is part of what she says:

…And then it is time for the race to start. The men having drinks put the glasses down. People are sitting forward in their seats as if they would jump into the TV. Some can’t bear to sit. And just before the race is to start, plenty of people suddenly remember who they didn’t think to call before. So cell phones come out and people say, “You watching?” “You watching?” Just these two words over and over again into the cellphones. And you know, you just know, that in the whole island everybody is watching TV…

…Then the race starts. Silence! Nobody moves. Cousin Esther and I are holding hands tight, tight. Granny has her hands on her head. Miss Annie, Granny’s friend, has her hand on her heart as if she has to do that to keep it in her body. Everybody is holding their breath.

Slowly the one breath begins to let go as Jamaica is in the lead. Some people begin to scream softly and this becomes louder and louder. “Run! Run! Run!" we scream. People are jumping up and down.

Then we win. “Gold medal!” One shout starts in our house, in the neighbour’s house, echoing all around, and all around the whole island breathes again and the breath turns into a shout. “Gold medal!” …

I hope that you get a chance to read this book and not only find out how this essay about Jamaicans racing is received by the class, but also to join Princess on her other adventures.