Bravo, Candy Gourlay
London-based Candy Quimpo Gourlay is winding up a brief visit in Manila, flying in from Hong Kong and a flurry of author visits there, for the launch of two books, both originally published in the United Kingdom and the United States but now with Philippine editions.
“Sirena Ba ‘Yan?” is Adarna House’s Filipino-English edition of “Is It a Mermaid?” by Gourlay, with illustrations by Francesca Chessa. It is the charming story of a “dugong” who insists she is a mermaid, not a sea cow. Aside from the whimsical story of the dugong proving to two young children her desired identity, there is the interesting information page about the dugong, or “baboy-dagat” to us and sea cow in other places. The name “dugong” comes from the Malay “duyong,” which means sea cow. This little book is a pitch for the endangered dugong, which is closest in appearance to an elephant, with an appetite that can consume 40 kilos of sea grass in a day; no wonder this dugong’s desire is to be a mermaid instead. And there is also the threat of the disappearing sea grass because of environmental issues.
At the launch and storytelling at Fully Booked before a packed audience, the children were delighted at the storytelling, and the fact that the author herself was drawing along. Yes, another one of Gourlay’s many talents is that she can sketch.
A few days after, at the National Book Store, Gourlay was launching her young adult novel “Bone Talk,” published by Anvil, with original edition by David Fickling Books, Oxford. It is the coming-of-age story of a boy, Samkad, who lived more than a hundred years ago and who thinks he knows everything there is to know. He wants to be a warrior and so does his sister Luki, except that no girl has ever been a warrior. The world he lives in changes with the arrival of Kinyo, who comes with news of Americans and the war and destruction they bring.
The story goes beyond Samkad’s Cut, his rite of manhood, as it brings out Bontok culture and traditions and the ambivalent relationship of the locals with the American colonizers.
To assist the readers in understanding Bontok culture, Gourlay has included an Enrichment Guide for “Bone Talk” (a deliberate pun on the people she writes about?). I usually detest those guides, especially the kind that focuses on the moral lessons and values to be gained from the story. But Gourlay’s is vastly different with its thought-provoking questions, as the author takes extra care to situate her fiction in a specific moment in our history, the American invasion of 1899. Her book honors and respects Cordillera history and culture, even as Gourlay herself grappled with the absence of written records by the Bontok. Written records by Americans and Filipinos are available, but, as she discovered, they were not freed from the biases of the authors.
It is to credit the people of the Cordillera that has prompted Gourlay to do a launch in the Mountain Province, too.
As if the two books are not cause enough for celebration, there also came the heady news of “Bone Talk” being nominated for the United Kingdom’s Carnegie Medal, a British literary award that annually recognizes one outstanding book in English for children or young adults. Authors have called it “the one they want to win.” It was established in 1936 and has been awarded to Neil Gaiman, Sharon Creech, Philip Pullman, Margaret Mahy, Philippa Pearce, C.S. Lewis—an illustrious roster of literary stars. Gourlay may be the first Asian shortlisted for the Carnegie. Eight books were shortlisted, and the winner will be announced on June 18. Truly a remarkable feat. “Tall Story,” Gourlay’s first novel, was nominated but not shortlisted.
Gourlay returns to London tomorrow, back to her routine of a 40-minute walk to her full-day workplace, the British Library, her “cave of wonders.” She’ll be in a frenzy to complete the novel her publisher needs by November (“Sometimes, writing feels like death”), and reading up for the next books currently being imagined in her head.
It must be her background as a journalist (for the Mr. & Ms. weekly edition and the early Philippine Daily Inquirer) that leads her to do extensive research for her books—a boon for her readers. Even though, or maybe because, she lives in London, she is deeply interested in little-known aspects of our history—like the infamous St. Louis Trade Fair where Filipinos were exhibited as prime examples of savages, and also the journey Magellan took on his exploration.
Neni Sta. Romana Cruz (nenisrcruz@ gmail.com) is chair of the National Book Development Board and a member of the Eggie Apostol Foundation.
