Were there any parts of ‘Bone Talk’ that you particularly liked writing? Were there any parts or scenes that were especially difficult?īone Talk is my first story with a historical background and I was keen to represent the history and the people as best I could without doing them harm. The themes authors select are the scabs we pick in our daily lives.
Now as a brown-skinned immigrant living in London, I still have to contend with strangers who meet me with pre conceived notions of who I should be. Even now as a grown up, I am so aware of other people’s expectations that one behaves according to norm. When I was a child and teenager I was constantly told off for acting like a boy. How important is it to you in your writing to challenge gender stereotypes? Luki says that Samkad is too short and too small to be become a man and Samkad is desperate to be powerful, handsome and strong. I was interested in the exploration of gender in ‘Bone Talk’. But my heroes struggle with the same issues: identity, culture clash and coming of age. I’m glad you enjoyed it! Bone Talk is totally different, set in a real place at a real time. How is ‘Bone Talk’ similar to ‘Shine’? How is it different? It’s full of interesting, complex characters, mystery and cleverly balances the modern world of social media and the internet with myth and legend. I’ve just finished reading ‘Shine’ and really enjoyed it. Then strangers begin arriving in their isolated village and slowly, they realise that the world is not what they thought it was. His best friend is Little Luki, who also dreams of becoming a warrior … except she’s a girl and in that society, girls do not become warriors. At the time there were still headhunting tribes, and my story is told from the point of view of Samkad, a ten year old boy who is looking forward to becoming a man when he will be given his own shield, his own spear and an axe to chop off the heads of his enemies. In 1899, the United States invaded the Philippines. Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit about ‘Bone Talk’?īone Talk is set in a period that has been allowed to fade away in many memories. We are thrilled to welcome author Candy Gourlay into The Reading Realm today to discuss Bone Talk, Shine, and Is It A Mermaid?
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