Authors Electric

  We all know that the life of a writer is more often about rejection and disappointment than it is about triumph and dreams coming true, so here is a little beacon of hope to remind us all that every so often our faith in a particular project pays off. Earlier in the year Dr Emmanuel Taban's autobiography, “The Boy Who Never Gave Up”, was published, telling the story of how he walked out of South Sudan as a boy and eighteen eventful months later arrived as an ill-educated refugee in South Africa. His rise to eminence and subsequent role in the battle against Covid has been spectacular, and so has the path of the book. So spectacular has the success been, that his delightful publisher, Annie Olivier, at Jonathan Ball Publishing, has found herself moved to write the following: “The end of this dramatic week brings some good news related to the world of books. Four months after the release of Dr Emmanuel Taban's uplifting life story, THE BOY WHO NEVER GAVE UP, it is number 1 ...

  My Christmas stocking this year included “Russian Roulette – The Life and Times of Graham Greene”, the latest biography of the novelist by Richard Greene, a Canadian professor of English, (and no relation). The book reminded me vividly of how much of an influence Graham Greene, and "Greeneland", have been on the directions my life has taken, particularly regarding the destinations that have left me with the most emotive memories and powerful stories. Haiti, and especially the Grand Hotel Oloffson, more than lived up to all the promises of dark excitement that I first felt when reading “The Comedians”, right down to the fact that one of the original characters Greene had used in the book, (Aubelin Jolicouer who inspired the character of Petit Pierre), was still propping up the hotel bar. I was a little later getting to the Hotel Continental in Saigon, which featured so prominently in “The Quiet American”. But despite the fact that Saigon has turned into Ho Chi Minh City ...