Readers of The Other Side of Truth

After months of tucking myself away to finish a book, I was reminded yesterday of the pleasure of visiting young readers in school. Thank you, Year 5s and your teachers at Childeric Primary School in Deptford, south London - and thank you, Julia Hope (lecturer at Goldsmiths College who organised the visit) and The Merry Trust.

Julia is researching children's literature about refugees and is following how the children respond to my novel The Other Side of Truth. Aged 10, they are among the novel's youngest readers, in contrast to the 18-year-old French students from J B de la Salle College in Rouen who came to Bournemouth this year to interview me. The young adults were preparing for their English 'Bac' exam on the novel. Here they are outside their hotel - overlooking the sea - with their intrepid English teacher Julie Bertholle (at the back, 4th from the right).

What interests readers is often very similar, despite differences in age. Most readers want to know my own connection to the story. One of the Rouen students asked, 'Do you see yourself in Sade?'  Yesterday, a child asked whether some of my own experiences were in the story.

It's fascinating to see the novel being read by such a wide range of ages and backgrounds. An 11-year-old reader from a Glasgow school once wrote, 'I shouldn't tell you this but our teacher had to stop reading to hold in tears.'  An adult reader at a Bournemouth Book Group recently waited until after our discussion to tell me, very quietly, how she had cried. It was something she hadn't expected. She had never imagined what it might feel like to be suddenly turned into a refugee.

Yesterday, when it was time to go home, a girl with deep enquiring eyes came up to me. 'Have you ever written a story about a child in a refugee camp?' she asked. I replied, 'Have you ever been in a refugee camp?' Yes, she said softly. She had stayed in a camp when she was five years old. One day, I suggested, why not write about your experience? Unlike the students from Rouen, or the members of the Book Group, many children at Childeric know first-hand, or through others, about lives being uprooted overnight. Perhaps when they read the chapter 'Mariam's Story', they might share some stories of their own.       

My husband Nandha came with me yesterday. He was full of admiration for the way the children listened so attentively for well over an hour, with such engaging questions, as well as sensitive, intelligent answers to the questions I posed to them. He was hugely impressed by displays on the walls of the classrooms, including the ideas on learning how to learn and suggestions on how to get the most out of reading.

Childeric readers, aim high, go far and go well!

Aesop's Fables in the Magaliesberg!

On a recent visit to the Magaliesberg (escaping from Jo'burg...), I found myself looking for Aesop's animals. My friends from Emoyeni Retreat Centre pointed to tell-tale signs. Porcupine had been swishing his tail. Had there been a dance last night?

A large cat (Leopard or Lion?) had passed the same way a few hours earlier, perhaps retiring to a shady cave for the day. We headed up and over the rocks towards Castle Gorge. Was this not the kind of place where Jackal might lead Donkey to an unfortunate 'rendez-vous' with Lion?  Could that be the rock behind which Lion might have hidden?

Or how about here?

And could this be where Jackal tricked Klipspringer into the kloof for a delicious drink of water?

The Magaliesberg Range dates back to some 2 billion years ago.  Aesop's Fables date back to about two and a half thousand years ago.  What tiny specks of dust we humans are in the passage of time...

Thanks to Branksome Heath Middle School - with thoughts of tortoises and spring...

Tortoises are sensible.  They hibernate through winter.   If we had daemons (as Philip Pullman suggests), mine would surely be a plodding tortoise.   But I only dream about hibernating and never do it, except that I try not to make too many school visits in the heart of winter.  I’d much rather be at my desk, snug and warm, than out and about. 

I couldn’t resist, however,  an invitation from Branksome Heath Middle School in cold, grey, wet January.  The school is in Poole, just a few miles from where I live and I was told that the whole school  – with over five hundred 8 to 12 year olds - was reading one or other of my books,  finding out about South Africa, turning detective on me and so on.    Naturally curious, I had to meet these young detectives.  

Well, their openness, enquiry and engagement was like a dose of spring!  Many years ago, when I worked as an advisory teacher for English and Cultural Diversity in Dorset, I brought a number of storytellers and poets from around the world to work with children who are probably the parents, aunties and uncles of today’s generation.  In those days, despite its port, Poole felt quite enclosed and the storytellers and poets were rather like explorers. But in the last twenty years, Poole has become more diverse. A world map in the school hall has arrows linking today’s learners to at least 27 other countries globally.   

At the end of final session with Year 7s, Mr Fox, the headteacher,  revealed to us that twenty years ago he had been teaching in Suffolk where there had been a huge controversy over whether a certain book should be introduced into Suffolk schools.  That book was Journey to Jo’burg. Some people had argued: ‘Why did children in Suffolk need to know anything about apartheid and human rights?’  Others, including Mr Fox, believed in broadening children’s experiences and encouraging them to think about universal values such as fairness, equality, respect. Fortunately, those in favour had won the day.  The book had been read, leading to lots of creative writing, drama, art... and no doubt a lot of talk using heart and mind.  

I left the school with a poem ‘L is for Libraries’ (from S is for South Africa) and the isiZulu/isiXhosa proverb made famous by Archbishop Tutu: People are people through other people. They will be framed and displayed in the library. Thank you Branksome Heath Middle for reviving me mid-winter. Spring is coming!     

Goodbye Burn My Hearters!

The Burn My Heart stage tour is over and I feel a little sad. Tonight Lydia Gitachu - who played Mugo alongside Lowri James as Mathew (above) - is on her way back to Nairobi. For six weeks, five actors and their stage manager have been 'on the road', bringing 1950s Kenya alive in theatres up and down the country. They were a fine 'multiroling' cast and got some great reviews. Anoushka Athique's very imaginative design and Juwon Ogungbe's haunting music also helped to lure audiences back in time. Magic to watch!

I was very touched when a Kenyan acquaintance told me that her teenage daughter, born in England, wanted to see the show twice.  I took part in a couple of post-show discussions where Lydia spoke of her own family background. Her grandmother used to help Mau Mau fighters by taking them food in the forest while her grand-dad was a Homeguard, seen as loyal to the British and the settlers. However, he knew what his wife was doing and he too would sometimes secretly assist the Mau Mau when required. In Burn My Heart, both Mugo and Mathew are forced to make choices with huge consequences.  In war there is often no 'in between'.

Well, thank you Trestle Theatre and Blindeye for bringing BMH alive and I look forward to the play being revived in the future. Meanwhile, the book lives on - moving from print onto the personal stage in each reader's mind.  A week ago it received the Children's Africana Book Award (an Honor Book for Older Readers) in Washington.   For more see   http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/awards.html  And to the wonderful Burn My Heart actors - Lydia Gitachu, Lowri James, Christian Dixon, Gehane Strehler and Sam Parks - go well and may our paths cross again!

Burn my Heart tour with Trestle Theatre & Blindeye

 

 'How does it feel to have your book made into a play by someone else?'

 ‘It’s a bit like giving up a baby for adoption,’ I say. ‘You want the new parents to be really good!’

Burn My Heart  is set in Kenya over fifty years ago. Mathew is a settler boy and Mugo is his family’s ‘kitchen toto’.  This is when the Land and Freedom Army  - or Mau Mau - rebelled against the white settlers who had taken their land.  Thousands of British soldiers were sent to crush the rebellion. Mathew and Mugo’s friendship is put to the fiercest test.  

Just as the book was being published, an email from a theatre director in Plymouth popped into my inbox. Oliver Jones said that he hoped to create a company called Blindeye - to make theatre about human rights - and he wanted to read Burn My Heart.


This was more than three years ago.  Since then Olly joined Trestle Theatre http://www.trestle.org.uk/  which has a fantastic reputation for ‘physical theatre’. I love this style. Few props, lots of imagination and actors who can change who they are in a second. So a cast of five can play twenty characters.  When Olly got back in touch last year, we arranged to meet and talked by email.

I still had to decide: Could I trust him with my story?  After saying ‘Yes’, and agreeing that Rina Vergano would adapt the novel, I knew that I must step back.  Olly had to be free as the director.  He invited me to an early rehearsal so the cast could quiz me about their characters, and then I had to let this ‘baby’ go. 

Of course I was nervous until I saw the preview. Huge relief! My characters were so alive, their drama so intense and the sounds of their world so real, including the elephant! You can see a short video on Trestle's website http://www.trestle.org.uk/pl272.html and check if the play is coming to a venue near you .  I hope it is!