Part 1: The reading
On the morning of the 14th of October 2023, I stood before a small audience in a place where silence is often kept. Silence in the pages of books before they are opened, before words tumble out and swirl into many doors and windows, entire worlds. It was a library with high ceilings, abundant with natural light, a public library in the centre of Cape Town, South Africa, the city I have come to love as my second home.
With David Kapp and Stanley Wagon Grant.
Mike Klink of Friends of Central Library (FOCAL) who was magnificent in more than just organising the venue and refreshments.
With the fantastic Stacy Grod of the Central Library in Cape Town.
Ingrid Jonker Prize winner Sindi Busuku graced the small affair.
This was the first in a series of readings and launches in public libraries for my newly released books (two of which are South African editions of previous titles):
Bloodred Dragonflies (Deep South, Makhanda 2022 & San Anselmo Publications, Manila 2022)
Waking Up to the Pattern Left by a Snail Overnight (Gaudy Boy, New York 2023 & forthcoming from Ateneo de Manila University Press, Manila 2024)
Crocodiles in Belfast (Vhakololo Press, Limpopo 2023 & San Anselmo Publications, Manila 2020)
Sound Before Water (Minimal Press, Cape Town 2023 & UST Publishing House, Manila 2013).
Being with small independent publishers is a challenge for both the brave publisher and the author. One doesn't have the backing of huge promotional campaign funds. There is no team to work with and throw ideas around, no long meetings on how to reach target audiences. It is a humble existence, and often solitary. But when one finds keen readers and listeners, one sees the most beautiful and magical of fireworks that do not just fade into darkness.
It was Robert Berold, highly-respected poet and owner of Deep South who encouraged me to find ways to share my new books. He said it is not every day that a poet finds him/herself with four new books in two years! It just never happens. But, shocked as I am, it has by chance happened to me! (Maybe I'll write about how this came about at another time.) And now I have an obligation to these books, these paper children. I need to find them new homes with the little means I have at my disposal.
Thus, I decided to embark on this small journey by seeking to work with the kind and generous people who run the many public libraries in and around Cape Town. I have so far secured four events, three of them in November.
This one at the Central Library was a beautiful beginning to what I hope to be a unique journey. For a while, in that almost sacred space, I was allowed to break the silence.
I started with quiet poems about the struggle of small creatures, about hearts and distances conquered, before unleashing my gutter-like voice for a poem dressed up as a tribute to The Lord of the Rings, but was actually about the real tragedy of war and destruction. I then ended the reading with an old poem which appeared in Alien to Any Skin (UST Publishing House, Manila 2011), "The Side of Love, for Mahmoud Darwish"
The people who sat and listened looked very much entranced. They asked important questions in between the reading of the poems. Afterwards they repeatedly thanked me for sharing my work with them.
-o-
Part 2 to follow soon.
Go to Clarke's Bookshop!
Clarke's Bookshop on Long Street in Cape Town has most of the books. They're wonderful and super helpful. Please get your books from them instead of snotty pretend book sellers that only stock imported so-called (manipulated as) bestsellers. Local authors really appreciate the few spaces they're allowed. It's unfair, but something for another day.
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