Drawing on my experience – from which I created my novel Sculpting the Elephant – l’ll explore the dilemmas of identity in mixed- race relationships. Doors open at Abingdon Library at 7 pm on Thursday 21 November for Bombay Sapphire and Pakoras and a taste of England too . My talk starts at 7.30. All welcome .
Abingdon Library: The Charter, Abingdon. OX14 3LY Tel: 01235 520374
Thursday Nov 21 7 for 7.30: Tickets available on door £2 include Anglo/Indian refreshments.
Signing and Selling at Kennington Book Fair (Kennington Village Centre) Saturday Nov 30 10 am-1
Green Fair Oxford (with Oxfordfolio) @ Oxford Town Hall Sunday Dec 1 from 10am-4 pm.
I gave a similar talk at McGill University (Montreal) on October 30. Among the audience was a distinguished Professor of Computing. His 60th birthday was honoured by his research community with a three-day symposium, called Prakash Fest, held at Oxford University. Kerelan born Prakash made a comment that made me realise that I had got the character of Ramma right in Sculpting the Elephant. He said Ramma going alone to Oxford is rare. An Indian PhD student at McGill insisted to him, ‘I am here by myself for myself. I am not a wife!’ He said that was unusual because most female masters students accompany their husbands. I wanted Ramma to be a strong and independent woman but for readers to realise that was harder for her than for most Western women. I wanted Ramma to be like his PHD student!
Caroline Foulk – co- author of Picasso’s Revenge has just finished reading it and says
‘Sculpting the Elephant is a joy and the story is a unique gateway to Anglo-Indian culture – such an interesting flashpoint of cultures, and so rich with a sense of art and history. It reminded me of my joy for stories such as Jewel in the Crown. I hope I managed to capture my enthusiasm for it.’
Feed back about this talk from the fundraiser at Watlington Library CHAIRMAN OF TRUSTEES Dr Anna Tilley
The Friends of Watlington Library were delighted to welcome back accomplished local author Sylvia Vetta last week to talk about her recently published second novel, Sculpting the Elephant, an engaging love story set across two different cultures. Inspired by her own personal knowledge of marrying her Indian husband in 1960’s Britain and the challenges they faced, Sylvia pitched her talk around the very topical issue of Mixed- Race relationships, whilst deftly interweaving the creation of her two protagonists into her words. Sylvia is an eloquent and assured speaker and spoke movingly about her own experiences; a topic that is increasingly relevant in our multicultural society. Her talk was extremely personable and whilst offering an intimate insight into an important relevant issue, was entertaining and excellently pitched and provoked a number of questions from the floor and a real interest in reading what is a wonderful novel.
This was a second visit, following her talk on Brushstrokes in Time, a talk and book that were also extremely well received, and we look forward to hearing her speak on her next novel.
