Walking the Hexagon

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Walking the Hexagon is, I feel, an inspiring account of Terry Cudbird’s journey around the edge of France on foot. Combining his two passions in life-France and walking- Terry covered 4,000 miles and several French regions throughout his trek. As well as the challenges of the varying French landscape, he was also faced with the deterioration of his parents’ health back at home and he speaks of how he coped with this in his book. The book is a must read for anyone with an interest in walking, France or just an appetite for adventure. Without giving too much away, we have asked Terry a few questions to give you a small taster of his account.

Terry in the Alps

What was it that triggered your decision to walk around France?

After a lifetime at a desk I wanted to taste the freedom of the open road in a country I love and before I became too decrepit.

How physically fit do you have to be to undertake a walk like this?

You don’t have to be super fit but you need plenty of stamina, and the resilience to keep going whatever the conditions. In the mountains I climbed 3,000 feet a day and lost a stone, despite eating huge meals in the evenings.

On your journey, what did you discover about the French people and their culture that perhaps you weren’t expecting?

If you speak some French you will find the people can be among the most hospitable, warm and generous in the world. I also discovered there is a lot more to France than the idyllic countryside we know so well. Some areas are in economic decline. A lot of French people are having a tough time and are uncertain about their future. Some of them feel their identity is under threat from globalisation. The French parliament has banned smoking in cafes and other public places. With a few exceptions the law is respected. Amazing!

A Smoker's Cafe!

Was there one region of France that you particularly fell for? Which and why?

Like a lot of English I love the hills of the Languedoc and Provence-the warmth, the scent of herbs, the sense of space. However, the real discovery was the north of France. Its canals, rivers and forests are not at all monotonous. Different areas there have a distinctive heritage and the countryside is some of the most peaceful in France. Tracing the historical development of Nancy in Lorraine was fascinating.

The village of Balazuc, an icon of the South

Canal des Houilleres de la Sarre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you encounter any real moments of danger?

Scrambling in the mountains alone and without a connection on the mobile is not advisable. On one occasion I had to jump off a rock not far from a precipice. I was lucky to escape injury or worse. After that I learnt to be more careful.

What lessons did you learn on your journey that you can pass on to others wishing to follow a similar one?

Carry as little as possible in your rucksack! Always make time to stop and talk to people. Take plenty of water with you. Once I walked all day across a bone dry limestone plateau and in thirty-two degree temperatures with only two litres. I understood for the first time what it is like to be desperately thirsty.

A dry limestone plateau- Col de Bellefont Chartreuse

Had you always planned to write a book about your experiences? How did you find the process of trying to tell the story?

The journey was not planned with a specific book in mind. Writing was much harder work than walking. I rewrote my story many times but always enjoyed the challenge.

What do you have planned for your next journey?

I want to walk trails in France which illustrate an episode in French history and to describe how the landscape has changed since the event took place.

Walking the Hexagon is now available to buy at Amazon.

To find out more about Signal Books and what else we publish, why not visit our About Us page? If you want to read another post about France, visit our Roman Provence post here.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Author Features, Travel | No Comments »

The Queen of the West

Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Here at Signal we are delighted to announce the recent release of John Payne’s ‘Bath’- an Innercities Cultural Guide, and following the release we have asked John a few questions about this beautiful, historic city in which he grew up:
Scenic Bath: The Picture Postcard Image

How have you come to know Bath so well?

Most young ‘travel writers’ seem to think that you need to go off and find some exotic, faraway place to write about. Well, I quite like exotic places as long as they lovely beaches and not too many poisonous snakes or spiders. But in the case of Bath, I know the city like the back of my hand because it’s where I was born, brought up, went to school, visited my first pub, saw my first football match, enjoyed my first kiss. I have to admit that I spent the first 18 years of my life trying to escape from Bath, and it’s only in recent years that I’ve moved back to Somerset and come to really appreciate Bath in all its glory.

What changes and developments would you say have had the biggest impact on Bath over recent years?

I think the cleaning of the older stone buildings. When I write lyrically about the sun drawing out the golden, honey-toned glow of the Bath stone, it would not have been possible to write that 50 years ago. Bath was grimy, to be blunt. Bath stone is quite a soft limestone, and it reacts very badly with atmospheric pollution. The worst problem came from the railways, especially the Somerset and Dorset, which had its engine sheds very close to major areas of Georgian (18th century) housing. Now the railway has gone, most of Bath’s industry has gone, and very few private homes burn coal.

The other thing I have to say is that the rise in property prices in Bath has meant that increasingly young people born in the city cannot afford to go on living there when they grow up and want to buy a house. So Bath has become a city of incomers, at least in part.

Have these changes all been positive? 

The gleaming Bath stone buildings, very positive. Likewise the many festivals in the city – music, film, literature and so on. The population shift is difficult though. I don’t think all the incomers appreciate that part of Bath’s heritage is its industrial heritage. They should go to the Museum of Bath at Work, off Julian Road, to see this other side of the city, which I’ve tried to reflect in my book.

It’s really important too that Bath thinks about employment and where young people and students are going to find jobs in the future. The city’s failure to secure the Dyson College of Engineering Design was very sad. I know there were problems about the design, problems about the site next to the river. But it would have been a great boost to manufacturing industry in the city.

What would you consider to be the ‘must see’ sites of Bath for a visitor?

The one-day visitor? Well, so many of the important sites are there in the city centre: the Roman Baths and Pump Room, the Abbey, the earlier Georgian buildings in Queen Square, the Circus and Royal Crescent. But if someone is staying overnight, I would suggest adding in at least The Holburne Museum, a nice brisk walk down the length of Pulteney Street, and its striking and very modern and very successful new extension backing onto Sydney Gardens, where Jane Austen used to enjoy the music and the fireworks. Another must-do for Austen fans is to go up to Beechen Cliff and admire the view. Another fine view is from Beckford’s Tower, where Bath’s great eccentric William Beckford built his monumental get-away-from-it-all retreat. If you’re coming for a week, then enjoy the pubs and clubs, the cafes and restaurants. And get out to Bath’s ‘villages’ – Larkhall, Batheaston, Bathford, Weston, Combe Down. They can feel just as good as Cotswold villages and are full of interest, as I describe in the book.

The Pump Room in the 1920s

Is the city in danger of becoming something of a heritage theme park?

I think there is a danger and, to be blunt, some of the Cotswold villages have already gone that way. But Bath is too big, too lively, too full of people for that. There are two universities and all the social and cultural life that goes with that. There’s rugby on the Recreation Ground and football at Twerton Park. There are enough pubs to satisfy all tastes. And people come from far and wide for the shopping, especially the Christmas Market. The new spa building (Thermae Bath Spa) is an enormous plus for the city. Wallowing in hot mineral water on a winter’s day is one of the great joys of Bath, especially the open-air rooftop pool.

No,Bath is a living city, and I have tried to emphasise this in what I have written about ‘her’ (the Queen of the West).

Happy Days at Twerton Park, a Bath City Victory

In the book you raise the question ‘who is Bath for?’ How would you personally answer this question?

I think Bath is for everyone – a trite statement, but it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and if it didn’t encourage visitors from all over the world, it would be failing. One special feature of the UNESCO status is that it’s not individual buildings that have been recognised, but the whole city in its very special setting among the green hills of Somerset. The local council and the heritage industry in Bath have all recognised that there is much more to be done to make local people aware of what is special about Bath, what makes it unique. In short, to feel part of that heritage. In that sense my book is aimed at local residents as well as visitors.

Following this book, what will be your next project?

Writers have to stay ‘ahead of the game’. You finish a book well before it’s published, so you’re already on to the next book or project. I live at Frome in Somerset and have been working on an oral history project to document people’s working lives at a time of intense social and economic change. It sounds very stodgy, but it’s not! It’s amazing what people get up to at work, and how vivid their memories are. Many of the people we are interviewing are in their 80s and 90s and have no qualms about telling us the sometimes funny, sometimes scurrilous, sometimes tragic and moving stories in their lives. Now my job is to turn a vast heap of interviews and photos into a book, which will be published in conjunction with Millstream Books of Bath in the autumn of 2012. And that’s this year, and it’s spring already, so I’d better get back to work.

 

If you plan to visit Bath, look to our Innercities Guide for an insight into the city’s history, culture and main attractions.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Roman Provence

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Provence is well known amongst holidaymakers, although perhaps more for the sandy beaches and glistening yachts of the Côte D’Azur than for its rich Roman history. For example, did you know that Provence takes its name from the Latin Provincia meaning ‘the Province’ after Julius Caesar conquered the region and declared it the Province of Rome? I didn’t!

The Provence landscape is dotted with architectural reminders of the region’s Roman history. In his book Roman Provence: A History and Guide, Edwin Mullins explores these as well as telling the story of how the Romans came to invade, colonize and transform Provencal cities into outposts of Rome, with state of the art infrastructure, amphitheatres and aqueducts. He also tells us how the Emperor Constantine brought about the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity from his favourite city of Arles-and how the Romans were eventually driven out by the Visigoths.

We have asked Edwin a few questions about his relationship with Provence and his book.

What brought about your decision to write a history and guide to Roman Provence?

A number of reasons. The book was commissioned by Signal, whose proprietor is a friend who also loves this area of France as I do. I have a house in Provence where my wife and I spent some time, and I enjoy working there and writing about the region – its history, landscape and people. It’s a semi-retirement job for me after a life in journalism and television.

Did writing the book involve a lot of travel?

Having a house in Provence made it possible to do a lot of travelling day by day, with the occasional overnight with old friends near Montpellier.

Did you find any existing histories or travel books particularly useful?

I read a lot of books on relevant themes. I suppose if I had to pick a couple that interested me most it would be the writings of Pliny the Elder on the region generally, and in particular the Roman architect Vitruvius on the science of water engineering and aqueducts, which I found fascinating.

I understand that you live part of the time in Provence. What made you choose to live there?

I love France, and have always had a romantic hankering for a place in the south, within the olive line. A different climate, landscape and culture.

Why do you think it is important for us to understand the history of the places we visit, like Provence?

History is where we come from. And to understand ourselves we need to explore it. The history of Provence is particularly rich and varied.

Why did the Romans decide to colonize that part of France, and what made them depart?

They were empire-builders, and Provence was the first Roman colony – Julius Caesar’s ‘Province of Rome’. They left 600 years later as the empire was falling apart, and Provence was being overrun by the Visigoths.

The real Julius Caesar, the only known portrait-bust of him done during his lifetime, found in the River Rhone at Arles in 2008

What do you think led to the collapse of the Roman Empire?

Gibbon would be a better person than me to answer that question. In a nutshell -  external pressure from Gothic tribes whom Roman armies were  no longer able to subdue, plus a certain lack of resolve and order at the centre, added to the split between the western and eastern empire. But all empires fall apart  in the end. They run out of gas.

Is modern day Provence the same area as Caesar’s Provincia?

No. Roman Provence was far larger, stretching from the Pyrenees to Lyon and Lake Geneva. A map in my book shows the original boundaries as far as we know. But the core of Caesar’s ‘province of Rome’ was present-day Provence, Languedoc and the French Riviera; and that is the area I concentrated on mostly.

How does the Roman influence still live on in Provence today?

The most obvious influence is on the landscape. Provence is especially rich in Roman remains, bridges, aqueducts, temples, amphitheatres etc. Also of course the Romans brought Latin, the basis of the old Provencal language and of modern French.

In Chapter 3 you discuss the Latin expression Gloria. What does Gloria mean and how does it relate to Provence?

The word ‘gloria’ sums up the Romans’ pride in being in their view the most advanced and civilized nation on earth. Not unlike England under Queen Victoria. The word relates to Provence in that the Romans were proud of having created a second Roman state centred on the city of Arelate (Arles).

What do you think is the most spectacular Roman site today?

In my view the great aqueduct near Nîmes, the Pont du Gard – a triumph of Roman engineering genius.

Pont du Gard, incredible Roman aqueduct near Nimes

Is there a particular museum you would recommend?

The most exciting museum is the new Musee de l’Arles Antique, beautifully laid out and on a Roman site. Arles (Roman Arlelate) was the capital of the region, and the favourite city of the Emperor Constantine.

Do you have plans for another book?

I am always writing something. That’s what writers do for their sins.

 

So what’s your favourite site in Provence? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment and tell us!

Roman Provence is available to buy online at Amazon

 

We have a great post about an author’s adventure in France here. Alternatively if you would like to visit other blogs about France or general travel, why not visit our links page here?

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Author Features, Travel | No Comments »

Innocence and War: Mark Twain’s Holy Land Revisited

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

In 1867 the Daily Alta California commissioned Mark Twain to cover the story of the world’s first luxury cruise aboard an ex-Civil War Mississippi side-wheel paddle steamer. The trip would take about 6 months, starting in New York and heading for the Holy Land, stopping in cities such as Beirut, Baalbec and Damascus, followed by the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Nazareth , then finally on to Jerusalem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem and Jaffa. The Innocents Abroad followed Twain’s journey and was his bestselling book of his lifetime. Now Ian Strathcarron revisits this excursion, following its original course, in his latest book Innocence and War. Here is an interview with Ian about the book and the Holy Land.

How did the decision to relive Mark Twain’s excursion come about?

I first came across him in the Compendium Books store in Athens when I was working on the Byron book, Joy Unconfined!. There was a book there called Traveler’s Greece about writers who had visited what is now Greece in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was mostly written in rather florid English and French prose but in there was a chapter taken from Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad. It really stood out as being crisp and wry and on further investigation I found that he was in Greece as part of a wider tour of the Mediterranean. Once Joy Unconfined! was finished- and as I was already in the Eastern Mediterranean- it seemed like a good ruse to relive The Innocents Abroad.

Not the Church of England: Religious fervour

What expectations did you have of the Holy Land when you started your journey?

I was battling with my preconceived ideas. It was actually quite easy to overcome them because in 1867 none of the countries visited- the countries we now call Syria, Lebanon, Israel and what we hope will soon be Palestine- existed, they were all part of the Ottoman Empire.

I knew that in 1867 there was pretty much nothing there- very sparsely populated, great poverty and ignorance and apart from Jerusalem and Damascus, very little historical connections to the past. Now of course, all of these Holy Land countries are in the news all the time, and seldom positively.

How did the places you visited compare with these expectations?

They’ve all changed out of all recognition. Beirut would be literally unrecognisable to Mark Twain now. The Old City parts of Damascus and Jerusalem would be recognisable but nothing else or in between- and that’s just geographically. But I expected trouble and found trouble. Trouble is everywhere. Crossing borders is either impossible or deeply fraught and all of the governments are either despotic, corrupt or intolerant. And as for the mullahs, rabbis and priests…

Beirut then...

...and now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What sort of contrasts did you find between Twain’s accounts of the places and your own?

The contrasts are enormous. Firstly, none of the countries visited existed when he was there and secondly, what was there was desperately poor and misgoverned- that latter at least hasn’t changed I suppose.

It’s easy to see the Holy Land as an Unholy Mess, created I’m afraid to say, largely by the British and the French and helped on its way by the Law of Unintended Consequences. The most depressing part is how large a role religion plays in the area. In Mark Twain’s time it was under Islamic control but with a large degree of religious freedom, providing you paid for the freedom. Nowadays it is a horrific clash of the three ego-driven Abrahamic religions who just make each other more and more bullet headed.

Our natural inclination is to look for the right and the wrong, the good guys and the bad guys. In the Middle East everyone is in the wrong because they all think that only they are in the right.

Which, if any, of the countries you visited would you revisit and why?

Every visitor’s favourite country in the region is Syria, which makes it even more of a tragedy to see what’s happening there now. It’s a wonderful country with the most hospitable people, a very ancient culture and history, quite delightful in every way.

Lebanon is a pressure cooker of religious and political intolerance, increasingly under the control of the Hezbollah, and I’m sure another civil war will break out there soon.

Israel I found to be a country of dilemmas. On the one hand one has to admire the extraordinary feat of creating Florida in the Middle East out of nothing. On the other hand it is horribly intolerant and in the grip of a particular unpleasant religious-right body politic, not to mention rabid rabbis.

Palestine is tiny and not especially beautiful but gives the visitor a wonderfully warm reception and is a total contrast to Israel, and not just in the obvious ways. The-Israels-within-Palestine, the colonial settlements, are an absolute disgrace, horrid places for horrid people. One can generalise that Palestine is full of poets, Israel full of lawyers- another reason Israel always wins materially and always looses morally.

‘Innocence and War’s’ blurb describes Twain’s ‘The Innocents Abroad’ as a ‘masterpiece of satire on political and religious excess. What do you mean by this?

Mark Twain was in the Holy Land as a working journalist covering a very high profile and well-funded Presbyterian excursion to the Holy Land. And a mighty pious, self-righteous group they were too; the opposite in every way to Mark Twain. He could observe the native Islamic hatred for every and anything Christian and the visiting Presbyterian hatred for anything non-Presbyterian, let alone Christian, as well as the ultra-orthodox Jews who hated everybody, at least everybody unchosen by the God they had invented.  For him it was as unbelievable to observe a believer believing then as it is for me now.

Politically the contrasts were enormous too. Mark Twain came from a young America, rebounding from the Civil War, full of can-do enthusiasm, full of the goals of democracy and full of the merits of meritocracy. The Ottoman Empire was the complete opposite, totally corrupt, stolid and fatalistic. And that was just the rulers. The occupied were, quite literally, living as medieval serfs.

A lot of the book is concerned with your yacht, how does being seaborne fit in with being an author?

I love living on board and I love historical travel writing so they dovetail perfectly. The boat is a floating library and a wonderfully peaceful place to research and write. No distractions- at least not at anchor or in a harbour; once underway all the attention has to be devoted to safe passage making.

With this book I hopped down the Levantine coast from Syria to Lebanon to Israel and did short trips from the boat, not necessarily in sequence and then did further research and the writing on board and then sailed on to the next port. Finally I sailed to Cyprus and put it all together there and wrote the epilogue there too, this being a letter from myself to Mark Twain explaining how the Holy Land lies now.

What are you working on now?

I’m completing a Mark Twain travel trilogy. After the Holy Land I went to India and followed him around his grand tour there which took him three months in 1897 and took me three months in 2011. His books was Following the Equator and mine is The Indian Equator. The book has been written and is now being edited and designed and we hope it will come out later this year.

I’m now in New Orleans working on the last part of the trilogy, which is based on his book Life on the Mississippi. There’s a website which has more on all this.

After that I’d quite like to follow Bruce Chatwin to Patagonia but haven’t yet made any firm plans. Waiting for those fair winds…

Innocence and War is now available at Waterstones and Amazon.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Author Features, Travel | 3 Comments »

The Portuguese: A Modern History

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Barry Hatton has been a foreign correspondent in Lisbon for over 20 years. Having previously co-authored a biography of Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, Portugal’s first ever woman prime minister, he more recently brought us The Portuguese: A Modern History. To our delight the Portuguese translation of the book has become a bestseller in Portugal.

The Glory Days- John IV proclaimed King of Portugal

‘In The Portuguese: A Modern History, Barry Hatton explores both the reasons for the country’s see-sawing international profile and the roots of its more recent economic woes… His history takes in all the nation’s major developments since the Renaissance, but it also takes some colourful detours down key cultural avenues, such as food, music and the national trait of disorder.- Iberosphere 2011

The book combines in-depth historical analysis with present day personal anecdotes and observations, so that readers will come away with a more informed and less stereotypical picture of this small country and its people. It traces the Golden Age of Portuguese exploration and the subsequent decline and period of dictatorship that have lead to today’s financial crisis. It also shines a more positive light on Portugal’s great cuisine, architectural beauty and potential for economic recovery. To find out more about what was behind the book we asked Barry a few questions.

What was it that first took you to Portugal?

Barry's book points out that Portugal boasts the most bizarre and confusing road signs in the world!

Adventure. I came on a wing and a prayer, with a one-way train ticket from Victoria Station to Lisbon, a rucksack and  £200 in my pocket, leaving on April Fool’s Day (which seemed apt) 1986. Unable to get the job as a journalist I wanted in the UK, and fed up, I took a gamble. It was time to do something crazy. I picked Portugal because I’d passed through a couple of times on InterRail and liked the look of it. I didn’t know much about the place, but that only added to the sense of discovery and adventure.

What triggered your decision to write The Portuguese: A Modern History?

As a foreign correspondent, the space I’m allowed to describe and explain things about Portugal is limited. I had built up so much intimate knowledge over a quarter of a century that I needed to get off my chest. It also annoyed me that so few people abroad are familiar with Portugal. It seemed unfair.

In the book you discuss the stereotypical perceptions of Portuguese lifestyle. Why do you think people envisage Portugal to be this way?

When people don’t know a country-any country- and its people very well, they tend to picture it in broad brushstrokes. Such stereotypes are commonplace. I hope my book adds some detail and brings a deeper understanding of what really is a fascinating country.

What would you argue are the main impediments on Portugal’s development?

Portugal’s been stuck in the past. The 1974 Carnation Revolution brought pretty lavish entitlements, such as labour rights and social benefits, which are no longer affordable because the country’s not growing (because it’s stuck in the past…). The Portuguese need to let go and embrace the future. Once they do, I don’t doubt they’ll be a success.

Where would you recommend people go if they wish to discover real Portuguese culture?

It’s more a case of where not to go- anywhere except the Algarve! That’s a bit unfair, because parts of the Algarve are still worthwhile if you know where they are. On the whole, Portugal offers a remarkable diversity of landscapes and culinary delights in a relatively small space.

The great palace at Mafra which all but bankrupted Portugal in the eighteenth century.

 

What do the ‘EU standards’ of the new generations mean for Portugal in 2012?

Young people are in close contact with other European countries nowadays, through easy travel and electronic communication. That means they have a yardstick by which to measure themselves. They don’t like what they see and are stirring into action.

Do you think Portugal will remain a member of the single currency?

With this amount of market uncertainty, who knows?

How was your book received in Portugal?

The Portuguese translation was a huge hit. It was the No.1 bestseller for several weeks and was in the top 10 for months. It came out at a time when Portugal had just got its bailout and when the Portuguese were desperate to hear an explanation of why they were always in crisis. My book tries to do that by looking back through history, up to the present day.

Finally, any plans for another book?

Signal has asked me to write a cultural guide to Lisbon. I’d like to do it, but am just waiting to see how the financial crisis pans out. It could mean a lot of work for journalists…

If you are interested in picking up a copy (which obviously we would recommend!) you can find it available on Amazon.


For a great review of Barry Hatton’s book and other news on Portugal, visit Iberosphere.

For an interesting blog commenting on Portuguese culture, business, innovation, people, places and more, visit bestinportugal.com.

 

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , ,
Posted in Author Features, Current Affairs, Travel | 3 Comments »

In the Shadow of Crows

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Vanished from Britain since 1798, leprosy is a disease easily forgotten by the great majority in the developed world. Yet the World Health Organisation estimates that over the next ten years, over 7.5 million people will become infected. And where will seventy per cent of these new cases come from? India, home to Bindra the struggling young widow whom author David Charles Manners comes to meet under unimaginable circumstances in his new book, In the Shadow of Crows. We don’t want to give too much away by telling Bindra’s story for you, but we have asked David a few questions to give you a taste of why he came to tell this story and how it has affected him.

David, what was it that made you decide to write this book?

A small, broken, extraordinary woman named Bindra, one of the vast underclass in India who come and go without leaving any bureaucratic evidence of their lives, and yet whose experience and wisdom merit recognition.

Encouraged by wonderfully supportive friends, I allowed myself  to respond to what proved to be an irrepressible urge to ensure that her story was told, and wrote obsessively, even having to be reminded to eat, drink and sleep. Three months later In the Shadow of Crows was finished.

Was this your first book?

Certainly my first published book. However, my grandfather’s old bureau in my study is stuffed full of many years’ worth of manuscripts that will never be read!

Fact is, I have written short stories and even fairly substantial books since my boyhood, when I used to haul my grandfather’s cumbersome Indian typewriter into my favourite apple tree, to settle amongst its branches and tap out stories for my younger brother.

Little could I have imagined, thus perched among the sparrows and the wasp-cored fruits, that I had already commenced my path to publication!

The book is somewhat autobiographical; how did you find it writing about yourself and your personal life?

The autobiographical aspect was initially merely a foil for the telling of Bindra’s life-story. And yet, as the writing progressed I realised I needed to add more of the personal experiences that informed my own path to our meeting.

I cannot deny that it was tricky at times, and although nothing compared to the inconceivable difficulties and tragedies of Bindra’s life, there were aspects of the past that were challenging to revisit- reducing me to having to mop up the keyboard once in a while in case it shorted!

What did you find most surprising on your first ever visit to India?

Himalayas

Both the deference and the contempt; the fabulous wealth and the  abject poverty; the insightful wisdom and the stupefying ignorance; the arresting compassion and the cruelty.

And therein, perhaps, lies the greatest surprise of all- India’s extremes: all life’s beauty and horror, wonder and despair; all humankind’s potential for astonishing magnanimity and corrupting self-interest. It certainly delivers an intensity to every moment that confirms I am alive like nowhere else I have ever known!

Can you tell us some of the interesting Hindu customs you learned from the people you spent time with?

In the Shadow of Crows is full of the sorts of  diverse and even contradictory customs and cultural details that continue to fascinate me.

Just this year, I spent time in Kolkata for Durga Puja, Bengal’s most enthusiastic festival, when the tiger-riding goddess is honoured as the symbol of the restoration of stability, both in the cosmos and ourselves.

Another extraordinary festival is held at the tiny village of Koovagam, in India’s south-east, where men gather from all across the Sub-continent to explore together, for one night only, the unbridled passion of shringara rasa- the ‘erotic emotion of mutual pleasure’- as shared in ancient myth by Krishna and Aravan.

However, perhaps my favourite of all is the wonderfully egalitarian and insightful, five-day mountain festival called Tihar.

Durga Puja in Kolkata


Could you tell us a little about your charity- ‘Sarva’? 

The levels of deprivation and extent of injustice encountered in India are hard for the uninitiated to imagine. Over the years, I have been especially moved by the plight of people shunned for their caste, mental illness or disease- but most notably leprosy, by which some 12 million people in India are affected. Bindra was one of these people.

It was my interaction with her that led directly to the founding of Sarvashubhamkara (Sarva), a registered charity with a Sanskrit name meaning ‘he who does good to all’.

With no political or religious affiliations, our mission is to aid the relief of poverty, sickness and distress, through small and varied medical, social and educational projects.

We are presently working with three leprosy colonies and over the last few years have supported some 180 children from excluded backgrounds, through education and vocational training- from junior schools and the likes of tailoring training, to universities and medical schools.

Leprosy Colony Child

 

What do you do when you’re not in India?

I am constantly researching and working on some writing project or other. This year, for example, I have been collaborating in my ‘writerly’ role with the choreographer and director Ben Wright for his dance-theatre  company bgroup. The resulting production, The Lessening of Difference, is on its national tour to 10 theatres around the country.

I also undertake genealogical research, teach one-to-one Shaiva Tantra Yoga, fund-raise for Sarva (always ready to give a talk and presentation to anyone who would like to get in touch!) – and am constantly trying to find ways to earn enough to get back to India as soon as, and for as long as, possible!

Can we expect any new books from you? Any hints as to what they will be about?

I delivered a great chunk of manuscript to my agent only last week.

This new book is autobiographical again, effectively filling in the missing years of In the Shadow of Crows. Its chapters plunge the reader not only into an exotic landscape and culture, but a very different worldview, being an account of the progressive initiations of provocation, challenge and instruction that I went through with a Nepalese jhankri shaman, over a period of some 14 years, into an unorthodox, practical, Himalayan tradition.

The Jhankri Shaman

But for now, that’s all I’m saying…

 

If you are interested in reading In the Shadow of Crows, it is now available at Waterstones and Amazon.

 

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Author Features, Current Affairs, Travel | 3 Comments »

Becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo…

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Admittedly, until I was introduced to Elizabeth Gowing’s book- Travels in Blood and Honey- Kosovo was a country I had heard little to nothing about.

Embarrassing? I know.

When I mentioned to others that the book I was reading was about travels in Kosovo, the general reaction was along the lines of “oh…isn’t it really war-torn there?” And it is true, Kosovo has seen its fair share of political and ethnic unrest, but this is not the concept that seems to dominate Elizabeth’s tale. We decided to catch up with Elizabeth and ask her some questions about a journey that started as a ‘blind date’ with an unfamiliar land, translated into an ‘arranged marriage’, only later to become a true love affair with Kosovo.

Elizabeth, what did life entail before Kosovo?

I worked in primary education in Islington, Hackney and Lambeth and in the policy team of the General Teaching Council.  That gave me lots of transferable skills, and introduced me to my first Kosovars, who arrived as refugees into the school where I was a deputy headteacher in 1999, but it was a long way from bees or the Balkans.

 To start with, you compared the move to Kosovo with an arranged marriage. What was it that forced this relationship with the country to change?

There was one evening in the beautiful Ottoman city of Prizren where Rob and I climbed up to the fortress that overlooks the town, after I’d run a day of training for Kosovan teachers with an international NGO, where I felt I’d contributed something useful to Kosovo and we looked down at the twinkling lights and I remember saying ‘this is where I want to be.’

How did your life in Kosovo contrast with life at home in the UK?

I missed salt and vinegar crisps and being able to drink water from the tap.  I loved the feeling of having an adventure, the challenges of doing new things in a new country, and the astonishing welcome we received from everyone – from village beekeepers to the Prime Minister – with whom we came in contact.  That made every day feel special.

Was beekeeping always an interest of yours or was your surprise gift – the first hive- the beginning?

‘Bee’ was my family nickname so I had always been interested in bees, and when I read Lark Rise to Candleford I remember making some passing comment to Rob about how wonderful it would be to have your own source of sweet treats at the bottom of the garden like the villagers in that book did, but I didn’t really take the idea very seriously.  I am now a little more careful about passing comments – you never know what he might pick up on for my next birthday present!

Could you tell us a little about your Kosovan mineral water campaign- where did the inspiration come from?

There are lots of things that have become an established part of the social context in the UK which haven’t yet been incorporated into the general consciousness in Kosovo – probably because people in Kosovo have had other priorities.  As an ordinary museum-goer in England I had ideas for how folk museums can encourage people to come for a day out by offering traditional food being prepared in traditional costume, and suggested it to the guides at Pristina’s Ethnological Museum, and we successfully started a programme there.  In the same way I had an awareness of the importance of food miles and buying local which hadn’t become a fashion or a preoccupation in Kosovo, and so I started a small campaign to encourage people to drink the local (bottled) water instead of buying imported water.  Kosovo’s economy badly needs investment, and Kosovo’s environment can do without lorries trundling heavy loads of water all the way from San Pellegrino. As a foreigner in Kosovo it seemed that it was me that the cafes were trying to impress with their imported goods, so maybe people like me could be the ones to change the trend.

When it came to writing the book, was it difficult to avoid generalising about Kosovars and their culture?

I think the most successful kind of travel writing is where the author just describes what they did and who they met and leaves the generalising to the reader. Of course the details that you choose to include are going to affect the impression a reader gets, so you have to be responsible about including a balance of representative experiences, but I hope I haven’t done too much generalising about Kosovars.  There are plenty of other people who love doing that.

Since Travels in Blood and Honey was released, how have you kept in touch with Kosovo and the people you met there?

We have now started up a charity in Kosovo and over the last six months the Roma education project we have run through the charity (www.GettingGjelaneToSchool.wordpress.com) has been very intense and I’ve been spending more and more of my time working on it.  The book has been well-received in Kosovo and I’ve had quite a few TV interviews and newspaper and radio articles about it which have been really interesting as a chance to hear a Kosovan response to what I’ve written as an outsider about the country.

Do we have any other books to look forward to, Kosovo-related or otherwise?

Yes, I’m currently halfway through Edith and I; adventures with an Edwardian traveller in the Balkans, which is part biography and part autobiography, telling the story of Edith Durham, the Hampstead watercolourist turned Balkan anthropologist and humanitarian aid heroine.  She is very well-known in Albanian lands, with schools and roads named after her, yet in the UK no-one has heard of her, or written a biography of her. The book retraces her steps through Kosovo and Albania and North London.

Finally, what is your favourite Albanian saying?

‘Shëndet paç’ which means literally ‘may you have health’.  When someone sneezes, you say to them ‘shëndet’ (‘health’) like we would say ‘bless you’ in English. But in English I’m always aware of a slightly awkward silence after that, because there’s no standard response (and I’ve even been told that it’s considered bad luck in some parts of England to say ‘thank you’ when someone’s said ‘bless you’ to you).  In Albanian, person A sneezes, person B says shëndet and person A says shëndet paç as the formulaic response.  Solves the embarrassing social situation and shares the health around in a very civilised way!

If you want the full story on Elizabeth’s journey to becoming honey-producer extraordinaire, as well as nuggets of Albanian vocab and delicious recipes, head out and grab a copy of Travels in Blood and Honey: Becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo.

(If you are interested in beekeeping and would like to know more,why not visit the British Beekeepers Association for more info? http://www.bbka.org.uk/)

Photo by Paddy McEntaggart

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Author Features | 1 Comment »

We have lift off…

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Hello! Welcome to the Signal Books blog. The Signal Blog is hopefully going to bring you frequent updates about what we have been getting up to and what we plan to get up to. We will bring author features, including exclusive interviews and we will be giving snippets of current affairs and the various goings on in the countries we publish books about.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you think you have something of interest that we can blog about.

signalblogcontact@gmail.com

Enjoy.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »