(L-R: Michael Williams, Jeremy Poynting, Marva Allen, Johnny Temple, Jaime de Pablos)
So what did the Kingston Book Festival have to offer
children’s writing and children’s writers - the Cinderella of writing and without a
prince?
1.
The first thing was that a children’s writer, Tanya Batson Savage was on stage at UWI for Love Affair with Literature, Literatures in English Month. Promise
of a fairy godmother to come/ the arrival of the fairy godmother?
2.
The High
School Tour: this was great.
a) The
children who had attended government primary schools and the teachers who had done the same,
hailed me when they discovered that I had been a writer for the Dr. Bird
Reading Series produced by the Ministry of Education in the 1980’s ( revised
editions are still being used in the schools).
Validation indeed! Do we need anything more to tell us that our children
can be interested in stories about their lives?
b) The students enjoyed the writers, Kei Miller and Roland Watson Grant, both young men, 40 and under. They enjoyed
them as persons but they also enjoyed their work, the sounds of words. As I
said, I would love to see us do this sort of thing, going around to schools,
teachers’ colleges, so students can come to understand the joy of language, the
wonderful images words can give us, the sound, the sound; far and apart from
having to study it in school, which can kill the love for anything, unless you
have a skilled teacher, and even then, with exams looming over your head…
Entertainers often go around to schools,
which is great, and which I know the children enjoy. We need, for balance, for a
different exposure, writers to go around
to schools also. A sponsor needed!
3.
Using Language:
Both Kei Miller and Roland Watson Grant had interesting points of view on use of language (which
speaks to our ever returning discussion on Standard English and Creole). Roland
said the ‘character speaks in his own language’. Kei spoke to the recognition
of the continuum of language which we use. He felt that it was patronizing to
deliberately use Creole spelling, because he said, even if the word is in
Standard English spelling, we, the readers, will hear it as we would say it. He
felt that we should be able to embrace the Jamaican audience but also include
the non-Jamaican audience. In regard to symbolism, he indicated that
sometimes a blue sky in a poem, is just
a blue sky, not a symbol of any to be discovered truth. The students loved
that. After all, there is much talk of
symbolism in their literature classes.
4.
Publishing
Opportunities
a)
Jaime de
Pablos from Random House stated that the e-book is the great equalizer. And so
it is, but for those who want to try that route
- self publishing - it’s very difficult to get noticed, it seems to me. By the way, his company only accepts
manuscripts from agents. You know, we need for somebody to be an agent here.
b)
A suggestion from Marva Allen (Hue Man
Bookstore, US) was that we think of the wider Caribbean rather than trying so
hard to get our material into the USA. I restrained myself and did not tell
them how hard we have been doing that for so many years, and with little success.
However, guys, perhaps with Kingston Book Festival and Bocas Lit Fest, and the
soon to be activated CaribLit, this will be the time.
c)
Johnny
Temple of Akashic Books (US), who is publishing Anthony Winkler’s next book The Family Mansion, and who will be linking up with Ms. Allen on
some projects, said he is interested in
doing young adult material. Sounds promising, however I think that you’d have to check his
catalogue to see what types of books he has published so far, a clue to what his
approach might be.
d)
Michael
Williams from BIC Publications (UK) spoke to the need for books which depict black people in significant career positions
so as to provide positive role models
for ‘Black British’ children. He has himself done a book, Black Scientists and Inventors. Now we know that the USA has
produced books like this. Question: how
do we get our books into that UK market? One suggestion was to use the UK print
on demand/digital publishing houses. Something to think about, because we tend
to see the US market as being the solution to all our dreams.
e)
Latoya
West Blackwood of Pelican Press, says that they are planning to publish books
for children on the achievements of Jamaicans, especially in science and
technology. I got the idea that some of these might actually be based on books
for adults, but redone to the appropriate reading level for young people. So it
sounds as if she’s someone to contact.
f)
Jeremy
Poynting, Peepal Tree Press, a major publisher of Caribbean adult
fiction, said that the UK is really more interested in the UK experience of those descendants of
Caribbean migrants, now all British, than the contemporary people in the
Caribbean. He stated that ‘the Caribbean has fallen out of British
consciousness’. I love that expression; it is beautifully crafted, a wonderful
image (for me, I see leaves falling from a tree, drifting to the ground, the
tree almost bare – no, I haven’t the faintest idea why that is the image).
However, it is a dramatic truth. Perhaps we have to, as Roland Watson Grant suggested, think of how our writing can be the centre of global
culture’. Cool, eh!
5.
Memoirs: Christopher
John Farley, Senior Editor, Digital Features, Wall Street Journal, was one
of those who spoke about writing memoirs. (Remember his book, Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley).
Memoirs often reveal something unusual about the character that you can’t
believe he/she did ( but it’s not just for
shock value); the setting of that person’ s life, what was happening then in
the environment/the world at the time is
also important. I love that. I’ve seen this setting of the individual in time in books and it makes what the character has
achieved that more relevant. I’ve used
it in my children’s stories. As indicated
in the previous blog, we do need books about our great and near great
Jamaicans for our young people, before everybody forgets all who came before
and all they achieved. This could be the
key to biographies you plan to write.
6. Writing advice from Jeremy Poynting: I’ve left this to the last
because perhaps it does give some hope for us, the Caribbean not being
uppermost in British consciousness. He
gave good advice for us as we try to reposition ourselves. Questions/comments he
asked us to think about:
a)
How does Jamaica fit into power centres of the
world? Some writers devise a strategy in
their attempts to reach their identified target audience. However,
b)
All writers are carried along by a good story.
c)
The writer’s voice must be heard: The writer
must have a voice and a vision. Editors can sometimes fix the writing and the
plot, but if there isn’t a voice and the rhythm of that voice, you may not be able
to fix the story.
d)
Have the characters been given their space? Some
characters even surprise the writer. (I’ve had this experience and it’s
fantastic).
e)
Writing has to be of the level where you can
trust the readers and not have to explain everything to them, (which of course
can affect the flow of your writing – my comment).
And finally, he said that often you
can tell from the first paragraph of a story whether it’s going to be good or
not, acceptable to the publisher or not. (Scary eh! – work on those beginnings.)
And , my fellow writers, he said that he can always tell whether the writer is
a reader (of books) or not. Why did I insert 'of books'? Because, dear reader, I
needed to stress it. Do you know how many children’s writers I’ve run into who
do not read children’s literature, but want to write it. That’s like
deciding to go swimming in the sea, when you’ve never ever, even had a shower
or a bath.
As I said in the previous blog, the
book fair at Devon House was delightful. I saw new persons who are self
publishing children’s books, so the
genre is alive, and I hear that some people did well with sales; one writer/publisher
of children’s books even having to send for additional books. Wonderful! So children’s
writing is not only alive but doing quite well. Cinderella is on her way to the
ball to find the prince, or maybe,
she’ll just strike out on her own and start her own business, or something like
that. Who knows? It’s your call. Happy, brave writing, my friends.
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