Despite the horrors and war crimes committed in other parts of the world, it is hardly conceivable that normal life also goes on in most places. We hardly realise how lucky we are.
On Saturday, October 28th, I gave a short presentation of my book ANANSI at a local bookseller, a few minutes from home. It was a much shortened version of presentations I gave previously, tailored to the location, consisting of no more than the video trailer (see below) and a short talk of 10-15 minutes, enough for a public that of necessity has to stand.
 |
| the setting |
The people in the shop had put a neat table at my disposition, with some flowers and a stack of my books - ANANSI and my previous titles.
I had brought a TV to use as a large monitor and sound system for a computer with the video, the Powerpoint and a slide show. And a Kente cloth and an Ashanti mask from Ghana, to create some atmosphere.
The presentation was well patronised, mainly by friends, neighbours and family members who hadn’t attended my previous talks. I even met an unknown namesake, who probably has the same ancestors I have, about 200 years ago.
 |
| signing my books |
The shop sold 14 copies of my books, all of which I autographed, not a bad result for such a small event. They were well pleased with it, as I was myself. They planned to keep a few copies in stock for a week or so, and kept my ANANSI banner in the shop over the weekend.
Biblioteca Barlaeanorum
I haven’t yet written of a recent visit to my old secondary school, the Barlaeus ‘Gymnasium’ in Amsterdam, where I did my ‘A’ levels over 50 years ago, in 1970. I fondly remember that school for the excellent teaching I received, in modern languages, Latin, classic Greek, mathematics and science.
Barlaeus Gymnasium, Amsterdam
The school maintains a collection of books written by alumni, which is grandly named the Biblioteca Barlaeanorum. They already had a copy of my first book The Batavian, so now I brought them a copy of each of the others: The Cargo, Two Fathoms Deep and Anansi, naturally all in Dutch, which brought their collection up to date.
Biblioteca Barlaeanorum
The future
Giving lectures is great fun: for instance, sharing all the knowledge I gathered of the transatlantic slave trade. This is an enjoyable bonus of authorship - I have a great deal of material to turn into a tailor-made lecture. Such as the historic perspective of the slave trade, and how it was organised, and seafaring in days long gone. Or the early history of the Colony of Suriname, and the mutiny and murder of its first Governor in 1688, or the role of the well-known Anansi stories as cultural heritage of the Maroons, the descendants of fugitives from the plantations. And how to turn a simple idea into a complete novel...
I’d love to give a lecture overseas, but that is hardly practical. So I’m afraid all I can do to promote my work in the UK and elsewhere in the English language domain is write about it on my website or this blog. Or perhaps use the publicity machine of Amazon...
