Tanya Batson-Savage, centre, points to Randall Berbick, illustrator of her first book, a collection of children's stories dubbed, "Pumpkin Belly and Other Stories", at the launch, held at Centre For The Arts, University of Technology, Old Hope Road, on Sunday. In the background is Mbala, who provided the afternoon's music. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
ON SUNDAY, Tanya Batson-Savage launched her first book. It was also the first book for Randall Berbick, who worked as the illustrator on Pumpkin Belly and Other Stories.
Coming as it is in the midst of a very 'colourful' career as a journalist and critic, whose incisive wit and often fierce criticism have struck a nerve, one wanted to see and hear what she had to offer. And it better be good.
By all indications, it was.
Hosted by actor Karl Williams, the launch, held at the University of Technology's (UTech) Centre for The Arts, also featured the input of other performing arts personalities, as Scarlett Behari read from Primrose and the River Mumma and M'Bala provided the introductory music. Professor Mervyn Morris, former head of the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Literatures in English Department was also present at the launch.
TREAT
So between the 'howdy' and 'tenky', those who came to the launch, enough to fill the Creative Arts Centre, came for a treat, which may or may not have included the sorrel, the pudding, the pumpkin cheese cake and other delights. And, with those treats, Pumpkin Belly and Other Stories was presented.
Rooted in love for folk heritage, the collection of five children's stories includes four original works, Pumpkin Belly, Primrose and the River Mumma, A Glass House for Bredda Dog and The Guava Tree, and one adaptation, The Thing with the Tail, a folk story the writer said she was told by her grandmother as a child and, from which she read at the launch.
"I think I will be able to sleep in a few weeks", said Batson-Savage regarding the significance of publishing her first work and doing it on her own. "The trouble with self-publishing is that you end up doing all the work yourself," she said.
"It is impossible for me, given my history and my job (as cultural critic with The Gleaner), that I don't recognise that moment of hesitation. It's not a new realisation; it's something I see because, as I've always said, I respect people who take their work of art and put it out there to be loved and abused as is seen fit. It's like a child. You can't protect him or her from children who throw stones," she said.
"It's a tricky thing, because those who can, do and those who can't do, teach and those who can't do either criticise. First I've criticised and now I'm doing; it's a backward situation I guess."
CRITICISM
That leaves the criticism - at least in this case - to other people, perhaps to those who can't do or those who teach. One criticism that has been levelled against the book so far is that it is too text heavy, not too many 'pretty pictures' and 'big print'.
The pictures are indeed not what one would describe as 'pretty', a testament to the unique and engaging illustrations of Berbick, a sub-editor with The Gleaner and self-described 'lover of art' who says "I've been drawing before I could do anything else and I'm glad to be back to my first love". Instead they are imbibed with the imagination of boy with a strong appreciation of Jamaican culture but who lives in the world of 20th century anime.
The text, though large, is not unusually so and is presented in unapologetic abundance on the page.
"That is deliberate," said Batson-Savage. "I am opposed to what I call the 'Disneyfication of children's literature', where you have more images than stories. I remember from books I used to read as a child, you got one picture every two or three stories. You look forward to the picture, but the picture was not the entire story. If the story is worth the salt, which I think these are, it will be worth reading."
Although the writer says she is working on other stories she will once again be looking to be on the other side of the fence. "I want to take this business of publishing seriously in order that the next work I do would not be my own," she says.
