Delroy and the Marog Princess

My fans have been asking me what I am now writing, and if there will be a sequel to Delroy. I can tell you definitely, yes. The first draft of Delroy and the Marog Princess is finished. An ongoing project since November 2009, it gathered pace during July and August. A lull in school visits gave me the head-space to return to the Marog Kingdom. My next step is to read the new story out loud to whoever happens to be listening, and for my critique group and others to make their suggestions. However, with the new school term underway, my focus must once again be on promotion of the first Delroy story.

Island Fiction authors meet in Toronto.

On a recent visit to Toronto, I met Maureen Marks-Mendonca, author of Legend of the Swan children, another title in the Island Fiction Series. We met at a bookshop ‘A different Booklist’, where we also met the owner, Itah. She had bought copies of our books on a visit to Barbados and had ordered copies to sell, but there were some glitches in the supply train which we hope are now sorted out. Itah arranged for us to do some school visits. In photo, from L to R, Maureen, Itah and me.

School Visits in Toronto

Maureen Marks-Mendonca and I were given a warm welcome at Amesbury Middle School, on the morning of June 18. Some of the students we met were of Jamaican parentage, so were keen to talk with me.
In the afternoon we made presentations at Portage Trail Middle School to grade 6C, a class of boys and girls who love to read. They had already seen the book trailers and were eager to hear more about the books. Photo of us is beside an interesting poster about reading at Portage School.

Calabash 2010 - 10th anniversary.

My dream to read at the Calabash International Literary Festival 2010, at Treasure Beach, Jamaica came true on May 28. I was the third of the Writers in Residence (Jamaican writers) to present. The others were Michael Holgate, author of Night of the Indigo, and Diana McCaulay, author of Dog Heart. It was an amazing experience, reading at night with a bright light in my face, so I couldn't see the audience but I could feel the vibes and hear laughter in all the right places.

Link to Gleaner article

Here is the link for the Gleaner article. Being a novice, I hadn't figured out how to do this before!
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100430/ent/ent1.html

Recent Author Presentations

April 23rd - St. James Parish Library in celebration of Jamaica Reading Association's National Reading Week. (Photo at left). I also read from 'Happy Birthday' Jamela by Niki Daly for the younger listeners.

April 27th - Mount Alvernia Prep, to grades 5 & 6. They too were fascinated by the book trailer.

April 28th: As a volunteer with Western Union's I PLEDGE (I Promise to Lend Encouragement to Develop Growth in Education) reading programme, I took the opportunity to read Delroy to an enthusiastic grade 6 class at Barracks Road Primary School in Montego Bay. I was disappointed that so many of the books they donated to the school were Eurocentric

Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer was on hand to take photos and report. To read the article you can click on my link 'Gleaner, April 30, 2010'.

School Visits

What a pleasure it is to read excerpts of Delroy to young people. On March 18, I was at St. James College with a small but enthusiastic group of students. Yesterday, at The Junior Plus School, (in photo) I also showed my book-trailer with sparked much interest. The students were given an opportunity to search Youtube for the book-trailers for other titles in the Island Fiction Series. I also read some stories written by the students themselves - budding authors! Students, I welcome your comments and questions on this blog.