Beijing Spring coming soon.
Just launched – The Nasio I love reading project to build the first library in an area as big as Oxfordshire.
Nancy Mundenyo Hunt , the joint author of Not so Black and White which is inspired by her life, was on BBC regional news last night .
If you find this video uplifting you will like our novel. It’s inspired by Nancy’s life experiences growing up in Kenya and transforming lives through the Nasio Trust but also by her experiences of racism in the UK and of her work as a Diversity Trainer for the Thames Valley Police. We can change lives IF WE WANT TO. Nancy has changed thousands of young people’s lives for the better.
On Monday she came to lunch and we launched
The Nasio- I Love Reading Project
Our aim: To build a library in Kakemega County in west Kenya. Kakemega is the size of Oxfordshire but has not a single library anywhere.
We have the land in the Mumias township primary school and the headmistress and the teachers are praying that we succeed. They know that when children read for pleasure they learn fast, have a skill for life and knowledge of the world is at their fingertips. We will install computers and a reference section that can be used by the whole community.
Our patron is the children’s book illustrator, African born, Korky Paul who will support our fundraising.
Our corporate sponsors Claret Press and Essential Audiobooks will fund the early years running costs of the library ie. the electricity and the librarian’s wages.
A v. small fee from adult library users and computer users and other users of the building will sustain it beyond that.
What do we need to do?
To build , on this site , a 40 ft by 25 ft library plus a veranda and small office (that can be used like an advice bureau) we need to raise £10,000.
Will You Help Us?
Attached to the outside walls under the veranda either side of the entrance will be colourful display boards. Under the heading I Love Reading, your name as a donor or the name of a child or grandchild can be inscribed for a gift of £50. If you can’t give that much yourself, you can hold a Nasio Library Coffee Morning or Tea Party for a few friends to raise £50 towards the project and have your name or group name on the board. Recommend us to your book group, library friends group, church or youth group and have the organisation name inscribed for £50.
We need just 200 names to give a community access to knowledge. Interested in being one of them?
Get WALKING!
Before the Oxford Castaways books and my three novels, I produced a book of ten mostly five mile circular walks for KOA. They were originally led by Jack and Margaret Ibbott, who I thought had walked every inch of Oxfordshire’s footpaths.
Because of Oxfordshire Rambles , The Oxford Mail asked me to suggest walks for their readers .
Here is one of them: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19386891.enjoy-ramble-takes-iffley-village-oxford/
I’m so lucky to live on a beautiful stretch of the Thames . Wanting to encourage families to get children walking and connecting with nature, I’ve recently written a short series of 1-2 mile shire walks in Tuesday editions of The Oxford Mail.
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19452310.enjoy-circular-family-walk-around-kennington-sandford/
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19436233.watch-wild-birds-circular-walk-radley-lakes/
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19419579.fascinating-walk-families-ancient-pit-near-abingdon/
Some local readers of Sculpting the Elephant asked me to suggest a walk that took in the locations in my novel. This takes you to the Oxford most tourists don’t visit – Harry King’s TOWN sites as well as to the spires of Ramma Gupta’s ‘gown.’
If you go to London, here’s an unusual London walk compiled by my fellow Claret Press author Julie Anderson . There are a lot of intriguing underground locations in her thriller The Plaque
The Jericho Art Fair July 24: artist Weimin He and I
Do you remember this?
Radcliffe Observatory Quarter artist in residence, Weimin He, had 60 works of art on hoardings
and my poem about the site was also on one.
Tower of the Winds is a fabulous record of his six years work!
If you are interested in seeing Weimin’s hoarding pictures and my poem click on the link.
I’ll bring copies to the Jericho Art Fair. Weimin can come between1-2 to sign them. We’ll sell them at £5 less than the Bodleian price.
As well as antique watercolours – all under £40, and leather-bound 1850s art books for £10, I’ll bring some Art Deco to sell. The artist and deco loving protagonist in my novel Sculpting the Elephant had a shop in Jericho called Decorators.
Looking forward to seeing you at this free and friendly fair .
I’ll also bring copies of Oxford Castaways which includes Weimin’s story . He illustrated the cover .
PS Weimin’s take on ME!
WOULD YOU LIKE NANCY AND I TO TALK TO YOUR BOOK GROUP?
Precious is the daughter of a rural chief in Kenya. She is strong, smart and utterly determined. There is so much she wants to achieve in her life. But this will not happen here. Not in Kenya. Not under the stifling burden of tribal expectations and cultural traditions. To become the woman she wants to be, she must leave her homeland and all she knows and head to London. But Precious soon discovers that her new home, a south London sink-hole estate, is just as challenging and tribal as the one she left behind. Against the backdrop of London’s gang violence and racial tension, Precious will become an inspirational figure and embark on an epic adventure that will have a profound impact on so many lives.
‘Not so Black & White’ is a totally gripping and uplifting tale of justice, love and gritty determination.
Here are a few of the reactions to the FOKL Author talk we did on Nov 4 . Nancy was in Mumias and I was in Oxfordshire but it worked well as you can see from this small sample of the unanimously enthusiastic reactions.
‘What a great double-act Syl and Nancy are. The talk was interesting, thought-provoking and entertaining too. I literally shed tears with Nancy as she talked about her experiences as a girl in Kenya. (Sheila Costello/author)
‘Adrian and I have just participated in a moving Kennington Library
meeting about Not so Black and White. It was so good to meet Nancy and listen to her own experiencesand the lack of opportunities for girls to be educated. She is an
amazing woman and has set up education and medical facilities in Mumias.’
‘It was excellent. We really needed something uplifting like that today of all days'(Marilyn)
Nancy and I are happy to talk to schools, community groups and book groups or have discussions (internationally) and on BiT and Sculpting the Elephant too . Get in touch on sylviavetta@gmail.com (No charge!)
How to launch Not so Black and White – not like the crowded events of the past.
It’s taken these surreal times for me to appreciate the outstanding locations and crowded book launches I’ve enjoyed. The most special was the launch of Oxford Castaways in the Cast Gallery of the Ashmolean which Sir Roger Bannister wound up, with appropriately, statues of ancient Greek athletes behind him.
OC3 was in the superb Maths Institute and was compered by Roger’s daughter and fellow castaway Rev Charlotte Bannister Parker the founder of the Oxford Faith Walk and Director of the Children’s Radio Foundation UK.
Brushstrokes in Time was launched in Blackwell’s – below my friend the best selling Italian author Simonetta Agnello Hornby whom I met when we both moved to Kennington as young mothers. Seen here with Justin who lived with her for a while when he was at UCL. On the right is Oxford Blue Guide and friend Felicity Lewington . In the crowd Euton Daley, Nancy Mudenyo Hunt & Richard O.Smith . Out of view Weimin He, Maria Jaschok , Bill Heine and many more Oxford Castaways and China expert Professor Maria Jaschok, Professor Simon Altmann and Ray Foulk who all endorsed the novel .
and Sculpting the Elephant in the Jam Factory – which is the name Gill Hedge and I gave Coopers Oxford Marmalade Factory when we ran an art and antiques centre there. Can you see Legs Larry Smith (so named by George Harrison of the Beatles) , Dwina Gibb, Katlin and John Matthews , Ray Foulk , James and Joanna Harrison and Shrenik Rao the editor of The Madras Courier ?
My family and villagers mostly came to Kennington Village Centre where we had an Indian evening with food, film , dance and music and Weimin He sketched and compered by Korky Paul.
Poems in an Exhibition was in the location of oldest library in Oxford in St Mary’s, with this amazing view from the window of the Bodleian. Dwina Gibb read her poignant poem dedicated to her husband Robin.
Yesterday Nancy Mudenyo Hunt and I held copies of Not so Black and White but in these surreal times we cannot look forward to the exciting fundraising launches ( for the Nasio Trust) we had planned. The best we can do is offer to take part in zoom Q&As for book groups , libraries and community groups . If you are interested please let me, Nancy or the Nasio Trust know . You can read it as a gripping story or use it to think deeply about some issues as descibed by …
REV’D CHARLOTTE BANNISTER-PARKER
(Associate Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford, Associate Minister, The University Church)
‘Not so Black and White’ looks at the cross-cultural life of an inspiring young woman Precious, caught between two worlds of the UK and Kenya. The authors manage to weave these worlds together in a proactive way that challenges the reader to take a fresh look at critical issues that are of huge importance in our world today. From gang violence and racial tension in London to arranged marriages, girl child education, and tribal expectations in Kenya. An uplifting and captivating read.
To buy copies of Oxford Castaways 2
Go to
http://www.oxfordfolio.co.uk
and click on the cover image.