JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — The diplomat-novelist whose work was the basis of the award-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” is heading home to India for the premier of the movie there. The film, about a young boy from the slums of Mumbai who wins a fortune in a television game show, walked away with the Golden Globe best picture award and best director for Briton Danny Boyle earlier this week. Vikas Swarup, whose novel “Q&A” the movie is based on, said in an interview Friday that Indians feel “a sense of ownership” about the film – a third of which is in Hindi. Swarup was leaving South Africa on Saturday to attend the Mumbai premiere on Jan. 22, the same day the Oscar nominations will be announced. “Indians are taking it personally,” the soft-spoken Swarup said in a telephone interview Friday from Pretoria, where he serves as India’s deputy high commissioner. Swarup’s likable hero, whose name, Ram Mohammed Thomas, borrows from each of India’s three main religions, is arrested for winning the Indian version of the quiz show “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” because of disbelief that an uneducated street child could know all the answers. Each chapter in the funny, poignant and colorfully written first novel explains, by depicting an aspect of Ram’s life, how he came by his knowledge. Changes have been made to the story in the film and Swarup acknowledges that it is it is hard for authors to be “totally happy” with adaptations of their work. But he said the movie is “visually dazzling and emotionally satisfying” and that the filmmakers kept their promise to keep the “soul” of the book intact. “My book is about hope and survival,” he says, a message that has particular resonance in developing countries such as Swarup’s homeland and South Africa, his temporary residence since 2006. “You can triumph over adversity. A beautiful flower can bloom in the dirtiest slum.” However, the film – and the book by extension – has been criticized for its portrayal of India as a place of only desperation and misery. Swarup said his story is a “slice of Indian life” and he does not see India’s slums as a “place of despair.” “They are teeming with vigor, industry, energy; with people trying to improve their lives, trying to break that vicious cycle of poverty,” he said. Swarup’s second book, “Six Suspects,” a complicated tale of murder and corruption, also has been optioned for a film. The history and philosophy graduate of Allahabad University in India said he does not want to write the kind of epic stories favored by the masters of Indian literature such V.S. Naipul and Vikram Seth. He prefers to pen popular “fast-paced novels with a conscience.” Swarup said he has been overwhelmed by the response to the film, whose screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. But the diplomat turned author admits feeling a bit distant from the film, and its success. The first time he saw it was in October at the closing gala of the London Film Festival, just before its November release. He was not invited to the Golden Globe awards and he doesn’t plan to attend the Oscars if the film is nominated. “I would have liked to be made to feel more part of it,” he said. “Because, after all, without my story there would be no ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.”
from page to screen: The tale of Despereaux June 27, 2008
CAST
INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, KATE DICAMILLO
JEFFREY BROWN: “The world is dark and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.”
So begins “The Tale of Despereaux,” a 270-page fable for children with illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering, that tells of a big-eared little mouse named Despereaux who falls hard for a princess, escapes some nasty rats in a dark dungeon, and goes on a dangerous and ultimately successful quest to save his love. “The Tale of Despereaux” is the 2004 winner of the Newberry Medal, given by the American Library Association for “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.”
The author is 39-year-old Kate DiCamillo, who grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis. “Despereaux” is her third novel for children. Kate DiCamillo, congratulations, and welcome.
KATE DICAMILLO: Thank you, and thank you.
JEFFREY BROWN: So this is the adventures of a very unlikely hero: a mouse who falls in love with a princess. He loves music, he loves tales of knights. What made you write this story?
KATE DICAMILLO: My best friend’s son, about three years ago — he was 8 years old — asked me for the story of an unlikely hero. And I told him at the time that I didn’t do stories on command. And he said, “But this is a story that you’ll want to tell. It’s about this unlikely hero, and he’s got,” he said, “exceptionally large ears.” He’s a very precocious kid. And I said, “That’s all nice, but I don’t think that I’m the one to do it.” And he said, “It’s a wonderful story. You have to write it down.” And I said, “What happens in the story?” And he said, “I don’t know, but when you write it down, then we’ll find out.” And so…
JEFFREY BROWN: That’s your job, huh?
KATE DICAMILLO: Yeah, that’s my job. He’s got a clear division of labor there, you know. And so, I still didn’t think I could do anything with it, but when I got back home, the phrase “unlikely hero” just kind of stuck in my head. And I started doodling, and it’s not a big leap from an unlikely hero with large ears to get to a mouse.
JEFFREY BROWN: What is it about mice and children’s literature? My own son is reading “The Red Wall” series — so many mice characters. So, why?
KATE DICAMILLO: Why? I think that children can readily identify with something so small and defenseless and that the rest of the world considers unimportant. I think that kids feel powerless, and what’s more powerless than a mouse? And so, I think kids kind of exist on the outside of the adult world. And so, I think they can identify with rodents. I don’t know, I can.
JEFFREY BROWN: In fact, in addition to all the kind of light that you have in this story, there’s a lot of darkness.
KATE DICAMILLO: There is.
JEFFREY BROWN: There are parents who aren’t all that nice. There are kids left alone, even beaten.
KATE DICAMILLO: Right.
JEFFREY BROWN: There’s the prison.
KATE DICAMILLO: Right, there’s a lot of darkness in the world. And I think it’s a disservice to think that kids don’t know that the world is full of all kinds of dangers and dark things. They know. And for adults to tell them that the world is only sweetness and light when the kids can see something entirely different in front of them is — that’s kind of ridiculous. So I want stories — I wanted stories, as a kid, that dealt with the world the way I saw it, which was tragic and wonderful, light and dark.
JEFFREY BROWN: A balance of the two?
KATE DICAMILLO: Yeah.
JEFFREY BROWN: I read that the author you were reading at the time or who most influenced you for this book was Charles Dickens?
KATE DICAMILLO: I read Dickens the whole time I was working on this. I went back and read all of my favorites — “A Tale of Two Cities,” in particular. Dickens has a wonderful saying: “Make them laugh, make them cry, but most of all, make them wait.”
JEFFREY BROWN: “Make them wait” means?
KATE DICAMILLO: Make them wait: You want them to keep on reading, and you want them to be on the edge of their seats. And so, I went back for my own pleasure, and, also, to figure out how he did that. And so, that was — the book is very much like a fairy tale, but it owes a lot, I think, to all the Dickens that I was reading at the time, too.
JEFFREY BROWN: One of the techniques that you use is to speak directly to the reader.
KATE DICAMILLO: A very old technique.
JEFFREY BROWN: The narrator says, “Reader, listen to me now,” or, “Let me tell you,” or, “Have you ever thought about this, reader?” Why do that?
KATE DICAMILLO: Why do that? I don’t know. You’re overestimating me if you think that I’m doing things consciously, because I’m not. I’m just trying to get the story down on paper. I never know what I’m doing. But I think, in retrospect, I can say that because it was such a different kind of story for me to tell. I was considered a southern storyteller, and here I am in a totally different world with a totally different kind of story. I think that that narrator popped up because I was talking myself through the telling of the tale. I was afraid in the telling, and the narrator, this all-knowing voice, calmed me to have it on the paper, and I think that’s why it showed it.
JEFFREY BROWN: Why don’t you read a little bit, so we can get the flavor. This is when the mouse Despereaux meets the princess.
KATE DICAMILLO: Yes, a pivotal moment in the book. I’m going to read it to you, Jeffrey. Listen up, okay?
“The Princess Pea looked down at Despereaux. She smiled at him. And while her father played another song, a song about the deep purple falling over sleepy garden walls, the princess reached out and touched the top of the mouse’s head.
“Despereaux stared up at her in wonder. The Pea, he decided, looked just like the picture of the fair maiden in the book in the library. The princess smiled at Despereaux again, and this time, Despereaux smiled back. And then, something incredible happened. The mouse fell in love.
“Reader, you may ask this question. In fact, you must ask this question. Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse to fall in love with a beautiful human princess named Pea? The answer is, yes, of course it’s ridiculous. Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful and powerful. And Despereaux’s love for the Princess Pea would prove in time to be all of these things: Powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous.”
JEFFREY BROWN: Powerful, wonderful, ridiculous. And then, reader, read on to find out what happens.
KATE DICAMILLO: Yeah, yeah, please do, yeah. I hope that you do.
JEFFREY BROWN: Something that I wonder about, because I see my own children changing so quickly year to year.
KATE DICAMILLO: Yeah.
JEFFREY BROWN: An 8-year-old is so different from a 10-year-old, so different from a 12-year-old. When you’re writing for children, how do you pitch it? To what age? Who’s the reader you’re writing for?
KATE DICAMILLO: I don’t pitch it. I just — the reader that I’m writing for is me. And so, I tell the story that I need to tell, and, hopefully, that’s for the marketing department to say who I’ve written it for. I just tell the story that I’m supposed to tell. I couldn’t possibly sit down and write to somebody, because that would be like trying to write to the market, and you can’t do that. I can only tell whatever it is that I’m given to tell, and then other people will make the decision about who it’s for, I guess.
JEFFREY BROWN: But you’ve written three books now for young readers and they’ve all been quite successful.
KATE DICAMILLO: Good fortune.
JEFFREY BROWN: Is there a key, though, that you’ve come up with for how to reach young people?
KATE DICAMILLO: I put my heart on the page when I tell them the story. That’s the only thing I know how to do. I don’t know if that’s the key, but that’s what I do. That’s what I hope to keep on doing.
JEFFREY BROWN: Okay, “The Tale of Despereaux,” Kate DiCamillo. Again, congratulations.
KATE DICAMILLO: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
author’s website: http://www.katedicamillo.com/
source material: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june04/tale_03-30.html
Self-published novel: Time Stops for No Mouse June 4, 2008
http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=641
Author’s website: http://www.hermux.com/
Self-published novel: Shadowmancer June 2, 2008
Audio from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1900481
Video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/5012852#5012852
Graham Taylor has enjoyed an interesting and varied life so far. From being involved in the promotional side of the Punk Rock scene in London in the 1970’s, to becoming a policeman (not a natural progression), to becoming a vicar (an even more unlikely progression) and from there becoming a number one best selling author! What made Graham initially put pen to paper?
“A frustration with what was being published at the time.” he says. And Graham believed he could do better, a thought that probably many of us have had ourselves. From this premise Graham wrote “Shadowmancer”, a gripping tale that takes the reader into a world packed full of history, folklore, magic, and smuggling. Faber and Faber paid Graham £3.5 million for the publishing rights to Shadowmancer and his next six books after strong sales from his own self-published books and the film rights were sold for an additional £2.5 million. Shadowmancer went on to be on the top of the British book charts for an amazing 15 weeks. Not bad for a self-published, first time author!
The Times newspaper described his book “Shadowmancer” as “The biggest event in children’s fiction since Harry Potter.”
We are privileged that Graham has agreed to become a director of Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd. and lend his invaluable experiences and knowledge to help new authors to become published at a reasonable price. We asked him a few questions about how he managed to become the best selling author he now is even though he self-published his first book.
Q. Graham, once you had written Shadowmancer did you try to get a literary agent or publisher to read your book?GPT. No. I’ve heard of so many writers who have gone through so many rejections over such a long time that I decided to self-publish the book straight away.
Q. How did you go about publishing your book by yourself?GPT. I hunted around to find a printer who would print my book for a reasonable price and after finding one I then looked for a proof-reader who would proofread the manuscript at an equally reasonable rate.
Q. Once the book was printed how did you go about marketing it?GPT. Firstly I managed to get the book available through all the major book wholesalers and also though the main Internet retailers. I then went to all my local book shops and offered to do book signings and got the local papers to write articles about “the local author” and mention the signings. From these activities people started to buy, read and enjoy the book and most importantly of all to recommend the book to their friends.
Q. What advice would you give to an unpublished author who is looking to get their work into print?GPT. Self publish! You keep control of your work, you are in control of the marketing of your book and you’re not working to anybody else’s timetable but your own. You also keep all the ancillary rights to your book such as TV and film rights.
Q. Where do you see the future of book selling going?GPT. I see the Internet continuing to grow rapidly as an important force of retail book selling. The major book retail chains are limiting their titles more and more thereby offering the buying public less choice. I also hope there will be a resurgence of locally owned and operated book shops that are prepared to offer a greater range of titles.
Q. How do you perceive a self-published book versus a traditionally published book?GPT. I, and an increasingly growing number of people, see self-published books on an equal footing with the books published from the big publishing houses. You just have to make sure that the end product is produced professionally and the manuscript has been proofread to correct all the silly little mistakes that inevitably are present in an author’s original manuscript.
Q. Finally Graham, what was your motivation to become a director of Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd.?GPT. I accepted the invitation to become a director in Grosvenor House Publishing because I have wanted to encourage self-publishing ever since publishing “Shadowmancer” by myself. It is a difficult project to publish a book, and then organise the distribution and promotion of that book without any “guiding light” to help you through the process. The whole procedure can be daunting and seem quite unachievable to the uninitiated. Grosvenor House Publishing has put together an effective vehicle that enables an author to become fully published with all the distribution and registrations organised for a very reasonable price. Also Grosvenor House Publishing gives the author a very helpful marketing package which covers all the basic necessities of how to actually get their book sold to the reading public, which after all is why we write books.
Graham Taylor has since written two more books, “Wormwood” another compelling adventure of sorcery, treachery, intrigue and supernatural struggles, which has recently been one of only five books to be nominated for the prestigious American writer’s award known as “The Quills”. Graham’s third and latest title is called Tersias and promises to maintain the tremendous successes of his fist two books on both side of the Atlantic.
How did Graham achieve the success he now enjoys?
He obviously has a great talent for conjuring up wonderful stories and the energy and discipline (not to mention the talent) to be able to write those stories in a very readable fashion, but Graham also possesses one vital ingredient, without which his marvellous books would still be just ideas. That ingredient is self-belief. His self-belief is so strong that he even sold his beloved Harley Davidson motor bike to fund the printing of his first book Shadowmancer!
Author’s website: http://www.gptaylor.info/
source: http://www.grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk/graham_story.php? PHPSESSID=d06582f173eecfe5fbead0098e3b
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