another day in paradise

it's finally happened - the book was officially re-launched in fiji last night. we've been here for just over a week now and the bulk of my writerly responsibilities are over. they started the day after we arrived, with me presenting a talk on the book, and accepting questions from the audience. it was a small but enthusiastic crowd, which was ideal for my first 'public appearance'. over the week i did a couple of interviews (plus one more just earlier today), and conducted some writing workshops for the very first time. one was on prose writing and the other on life writing, and i concentrated mainly on doing writing excercises with the group, and talking about the writing that came out of them. i have to say if it wasn't for john marsden's writing book, i would have been in trouble - i took a lot of my excercises from there, and of course they worked brilliantly.

last night we had the re-launch of the book at the defense club in suva, a club whose main bar is generally not open to women (though i have a feeling that might change soon if the fiesty women of suva have anything to do with it). i met the president of the club and gave him a bit of heat about it, which i think he expected. many women and men turned up for the re-launch of the novel, however, which was great. kavita nandan from the university of the south pacific compered the evening, and seona smiles did readings from the novel. seona is a local journalist and writer, and an excellent individual. she and her husband kisor chetty, are our hosts in suva. sir moti tikaram launched the book, and i made a little thank-you speech at the end. the book launch was a little unique, as there were no books available for sale at all - the USP bookshop has sold out, and are expecting more copies to arrive next wednesday. instead of books, attendees were given discount vouchers, as the bookshop was really quite put out about being caught short.

today i did a little interview at the university which they will keep on file to use for their writing classes. my novel has been put on another course list, this time undergraduate - for post colonial literature. this will mean it's exposed to a wider student audience, which is great. i might get to come back to fiji more often!