Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

Positive steps needed to drive sexism out of PNG media

MICHELLE NAYAHAMUI ROONEY | DevPolicy Blog | Extracts

RECENTLY, the Post-Courier, one of Papua New Guinea’s oldest and largest daily newspapers, ran a cartoon featuring a Papua New Guinean female candidate in the 2017 national general elections.

She is dressed in a short skirt while discussing her election aspirations for a healthy democracy. Behind her a Papua New Guinean man is sweating; somewhat delirious, with red love hearts floating above his head, he is more interested in watching her paint – and watching her backside.

The underlying message is clear: try as they might to contribute to a healthy democracy, women contesting the PNG 2017 national elections are merely the objects of men’s desire.

In remote PNG, lives reconfigured amongst new wealth & power

MONICA MINNEGAL & PETER DWYER

Navigating the Future: An Ethnography of Change in Papua New Guinea, by Monica Minnegal and Peter D Dwyer, ANU Press, June 2017. ISBN: 9781760461232

A couple of years ago we asked, through PNG Attitude, for information about early patrol days at Nomad, Western Province. We have, at last, published our book about the Kubo and Febi people who live north of Nomad and, nowadays, are impacted by the PNG LNG Project. Our book is available for free download here - MM & PD

Seeking Souls, Seeking Resources
(Extract from Navigating the Future)

IN 1963, one year after the Nomad Patrol Station was established, the Asia Pacific Christian Mission (APCM) - later named the Evangelical Church of Papua New Guinea (ECPNG) - built an airstrip at Honinabi within Samo territory.

The small mission station was staffed by two Papua New Guineans—a pastor and medical orderly—who ran a small trade store and initiated instruction in Christian beliefs and the English language. In the late 1960s a remarkable Australian, Tom Hoey, established a mission at Mougulu within Bedamuni territory.

'The National' cries foul on political party's bias claims

KEITH JACKSON

ONE of Papua New Guinea’s major newspapers has strongly dismissed allegations that it is not providing a fair and balanced coverage of the national election campaign.

A spokesperson for The National said it always considers the public and national interests in its reportage.

National Alliance Party president Walter Schnaubelt had claimed the newspaper was anti-NA, citing an attack by prime minister Peter O’Neill on former government treasurer and NA leader Patrick Pruaitch.

“The newspaper disregarded the response from Pruaitch in its Monday edition,” Schnaubelt said, adding that it had also “buried” a response from the NA party machine.

Schnaubelt also claimed The National had “twisted” comments and ignored the party’s other press releases.

Proud headhunters & eccentric expatriates in mystery novel

AMAZON

An Island Lost by Christina Larmer, Larmer Media, 2012, 254 pp. ISBN-10: 0987187244. Kindle $2.95; Paperback $10.95. Available from Amazon

CHRISTINA Larmer is a journalist, magazine editor and author of nine books including six in the popular Ghostwriter Mystery series as well as The Agatha Christie Book Club and the non-fiction book A Measure of Papua New Guinea (Focus; 2008).

She was raised in PNG and spent several years working in London, Los Angeles and New York, and now lives with her musician husband and two sons in the Byron Bay hinterland of Northern NSW.

“I grew up in PNG,” she says of her writing, “but couldn't find stories I related to. So I wrote my own.”

Has Australian opportunism compromised our northern shield?

KEITH JACKSON

‘Australia's Northern Shield? Papua New Guinea and the Defence of Australia since 1880’ by Bruce Hunt, Monash University Publishing, March 2017. Paperback, 374 pp. ISBN 978-1-925495-40-9. $39.95

WHEN prime minister Malcolm Turnbull made his first official visit to Papua New Guinea in mid-April, a series of gaffes lit up local social media reinforcing perceptions of Australian disrespect for the country.

In PNG, social media are big (there are 700,000 Facebook users alone) and very influential in an increasingly activist middle class that an edgy O’Neill government repeatedly threatens to curb.

And the gaffes? Initially there was a fiery accusation by ex-prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta that the visit was timed to interfere with PNG’s impending national election. Then local journalists were excluded from two press conferences (the Australian High Commission later apologising for an ‘oversight’), a business breakfast faced allegations of race discrimination and Turnbull clumsily evaded questions about Australia’s marooned Manus asylum seekers.

Lost in Papua New Guinea – the saga of a book

PHIL FITZPATRICK

LET’S imagine that you’re a book. You’ve got a bright shiny cover with a distinctive Papua New Guinean theme. Below your title is the author’s proudly displayed name.

You’ve just been manufactured on one of the most sophisticated print-on-demand printers in the world in the city of Columbia in the state of South Carolina in the USA.

You are popped into a box with a dozen other identical volumes by an efficient and hardworking employee of CreateSpace, the publishing arm of the giant online retailer Amazon.

The box that holds you and your companions has been labelled and sent off along a conveyor belt to a vast despatch warehouse that runs 24 hours a day.

PNG media council blasts assault on EMTV election news crew

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH NEWS DESK

THE Media Council of Papua New Guinea has condemned the “unacceptable harassment and violence” targeting media workers covering the country’s 2017 general election campaign.

An EMTV camera crew was “harassed and assaulted” last Thursday in the Moresby South electorate in the National Capital District in an incident the Media Council called “unacceptable and unwarranted”.

The media has an important role to play in the dissemination of information and awareness about the 3,331 candidates contesting the 89 open electorates and 22 provincial seats, said council president Alexander Rheeney.

Television crew assaulted by Minister Tkatchenko's supporters

NEVILLE CHOI * | EMTV

A TELEVISION crew from EMTV has been verbally abused and a senior cameraman punched and struck with a 16 kilogram tripod by supporters of Papua New Guinean government minister and member for Moresby South, Justin Tkatchenko.

The mob demanded television footage be deleted and threatened to assault four crew members in an EMTV vehicle on Lawes Road in the national capital.

Journalists Bethanie Harriman and Stanley Ove Jr were collecting generic pictures of election banners around Port Moresby with senior cameraman Konts Kara.

After collecting footage at Gerehu the crew stopped in Moresby South.

Journalists self-censor after officials interfere in newsrooms

LOOP PNG

THE Media Council of Papua New Guinea has been alerted to incidents of government officials calling newsrooms to interfere in independent editorial processes.

This has compelled journalists and news editors to self-censor news and consequently deny Papua New Guinean readers and viewers access to factual, balanced, impartial and objective reporting. 

“Last year had its challenges for media industry personnel,” said Media Council president Alexander Rheeney (right), “and the first four months of this year appear to be no different, with news organisations alerting us to two incidents of interference by those in authority.

Publication of ‘Aitape Story’ brings back vivid memories

ROB PARER

LAST week, the book ‘Aitape Story: the great New Guinea tsunami of 1998’ was launched at the University of Papua New Guinea.

The author is Hugh Davies, professor of geology at UPNG and, while I have not seen his book, I know that Prof Davies’ humility is such that his extraordinary efforts during that terrible time are unlikely to be mentioned.

I was there and remain in awe of his compassion and the enormous contribution he made to calm the survivors and in explaining the origin and dynamics of tsunamis.

The ‘Crocodile Prize Anthology 2016’ – better late than never

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I’VE BEEN a bit reluctant to release the final and free version of the Crocodile Prize Anthology 2016 because it does not fully incorporate all the material submitted to the competition, most notably some of the prizewinning entries.

This came about because 2016 was a transition year when the competition came under sole Papua New Guinean control and there were hiccups.

Although I had volunteered to edit and publish the anthology, several breakdowns in communication meant I didn’t receive all the entries worth including in the book.

But it’s already May and I thought it would be worthwhile offering the usual free PFD, which you can find here, and if more suitable material arrives I’m happy to update the book so it is more reflective of the true merit of what was submitted to the competition.

PNG media are government propaganda machines says Polye

PNG TODAY | Edited

PAPUA New Guinea’s opposition leader Don Polye has urged media editors to create an objective forum for candidates to market their policies to voters as politicians campaign for the forthcoming election.

Commemorating World Press Freedom Day, Mr Polye accused the mainstream media of not being objective in its reporting.

He said they were acting as the government propaganda machines, an attitude reflected in their news content.

Mr Polye said the opposition was resorting to social media especially Facebook as a conduit to educate and inform citizens about issues affecting them.

PNG Army: A unique part of Australia’s colonial & military history

KEITH JACKSON

Guarding the Periphery: The Australian Army in Papua New Guinea, 1951–75, by Tristan Moss (Part of Australian Army History Series), Cambridge, hardback, ISBN: 9781107195967. $59.95. Available June – pre-order here

TRISTAN Moss’s book looks at the dual strategic role of Australia’s army in Papua New Guinea in the 25 years leading to its independence.

One was the obvious role in defending Australia’s interests from what during those years were real threats to its north and west.

The other was to manage the army’s role within Australia’s colony – the twin territories of Papua and New Guinea, which occasionally resulted in a tense relationship with the Australian colonial administration during a period of great change.

Research for a new novel

I'm working on the research for a new novel, which concerns the Chief Mate (Walter Scott Quinn) aboard the M/V Libby Island, a USMMC seagoing tow tug (196' long) which took part in a secret convoy to Manus Island reaching there in late autumn, 1944. If any of your PNG historians or writers have any recollection  of this convey or the resulting construction projects on the island -- it comprised four large, connected tugs and several caissons and barges -- I would deeply appreciate hearing from them, or from you. Best wishes to you and yours as the world gets more dangerous by the minute.... Sincerely, Richard Sutton

If you can assist Richard with his research,  email him at author@sailletales.com

 

Ian Townsend’s ‘Line of Fire’: The ‘spies’ who never came back

ROSS FITZGERALD | The Australian

Line of Fire by Ian Townsend, Fourth Estate, 309pp, $29.99

IAN Townsend’s third book, Line of Fire, a work of nonfiction, is excellent. It follows two fine novels: Affection (2007), based on the 1900 plague outbreak in north Queensland, and The Devil’s Eye, centred on the worst cyclone in Australian history.

The Queensland radio journalist and author has a talent for discovering little-known events and fleshing them out to make history come alive. His new book is a gripping yarn of espionage and war.

The novel that Francis Nii had to write

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Tears: A Novel by Francis Nii, Simbu Writer’s Association, Kundiawa, 122 pages, ISBN: 978-1544965291, US$7.00 plus postage from Amazon Books.

BACK in the 1960s, during a census patrol in the highlands, I called out a man’s name and watched him pull himself across the muddy ground to the table where I sat.

He looked up at me and grinned before affirming the details I had about him, including the cryptic observation in the notes column that he was, indeed, a ‘cripple’.

It wasn’t so much the fact of the man’s obvious and severely misshapen spine and useless legs that stayed with me but the look of fierce determination I saw in his eyes.

I encountered something similar just recently when three of Papua New Guinea’s writers travelled to Australia for the Brisbane Writer’s Festival. Among them was Francis Nii, a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair after a vehicle accident.

Flanagan concerned by PNG media blackout on economic analysis

KEITH JACKSON

AUSTRALIAN economist Paul Flanagan says he is “perplexed and worried” by the failure of Papua New Guinea’s media to cover a critical report on the PNG economy by the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Flanagan has long drawn attention to what he analyses as serious deficiencies in Papua New Guinea’s economic management and reporting.

“I can understand why the government tried to suppress this report by an independent umpire,” Mr Flanagan wrote in an earlier article. “Overall, it was a pretty damning report about the O'Neill government's economic mismanagement.

The venerable Pacific Islands Monthly gets new digitised life

JULIE WHITING | National Library of Australia | Edited extracts

Read the complete, lavishly illustrated article here

Browse the full Pacific Islands Monthly catalogue in Trove here

THE National Library of Australia has recently completed the digitisation of the entire run of the Pacific Islands Monthly magazine and all of the issues can be browsed or the text fully searched in its Trove archive.

Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM) was founded in Sydney by New Zealand born journalist Robert William (Robbie) Robson, who had moved to Australia during World War I. The first issue was published August 1930 and it ran until June 2000.

PIM was originally published by Pacific Publications in Sydney, with the company being officially registered in 1931 with a nominal capital of £1,000 in £1 shares. It was later purchased by the Herald and Weekly Times and after News Ltd acquired the Herald and Weekly Times in 1987, PIM was published from Suva, Fiji. The first issue of PIM was in newspaper format and consisted of 12 pages.

Kundu Productions – a bright new star in TV documentary making

MAX UECHTRITZ | Kundu Productions

THE kundu is an ancient message drum that tells the stories and histories of communities – which makes it a perfect symbol for a documentary company.

For the documentary production company I have founded, Kundu Productions, it has an even more special significance.

That’s because the kundu drum is from Papua New Guinea, the land of my birth and a country whose earliest known history, culture and customs were chronicled by my pioneer great grandparents.

My great grandfather, the Denmark-born Richard Parkinson, was a prolific anthropologist and author whose most classic tome ‘Thirty Years in the South Seas’ is the quintessential record of early New Guinea. His collaborator and interpreter for this and many other works was his wife Phebe Parkinson.

The ABC’s Ms Guthrie sells out the people of PNG & the Pacific

KEITH JACKSON

MARTYN Namorong and I were yarning with his parents, Charlotte and Warete, at their Hohola home the other day when I brought up the subject of Martyn’s razor-sharp and very literate English prose.

“Where,” I asked, “did this young boy at the Kumusi logging camp in the Western Province, learn to speak and write such immaculate English.”

Well, it had helped that his mother was a teacher and his father a learned man, but a large part of Martyn’s answer took me by surprise.

“It was Radio Australia,” he said. “We used to listen faithfully to the broadcasts and we learned from them.”

Top of the Crocs: Bringing to you the best of the Crocodile Prize

PHIL FITZPATRICK

WHEN Keith Jackson and I tentatively embarked on our quest to assist in the regeneration of Papua New Guinean creative writing by inaugurating the Crocodile Prize for literature in 2010, we didn’t know how far it might go or whether we would succeed.

Although we gradually garnered the support of many Papua New Guinean writers, we were always aware that the initiative was ours and that we were intruding on others’ ground and that this had the potential to be culturally tricky.

As it turned out this was not an issue, either because no one else had thought of it or wanted to do it. Apart from a couple of elevated academics, the proposal was greeted with enthusiasm by all, including the grandfathers of Papua New Guinean literature, Russell Soaba and Sir Paulias Matane.

We took special care to celebrate the once fertile past in Papua New Guinean literature and named the prize after the first novel by a Papua New Guinean, Vincent Eri’s The Crocodile.

MY WALK TO EQUALITY
5000 copies sold & on the way!
Essays, Stories and Poetry by Papua New Guinean Women
Edited by Rashmii Amoah Bell
       Buy your copy here 

  THE CROCODILE PRIZE ANTHOLOGY 2016
Sixth Annual Collection of PNG Writing
Edited by Phil Fitzpatrick
Buy your copy here
  

The VCT Clinic. It takes a brave heart to visit this place

BAKA BARAKOVE BINA | Editorial assistance by Ed Brumby & Emily Bina | Edited for PNG Attitude by Keith Jackson | With a footnote about Baka Bina’s latest book, Antics of Alonaa, Vol 1

IN EARLY 2013 Ghatane-Lulú was walking along Ela Beach at 6.30 a.m. when a young teenager, Katie (not her real name) called to him, “Fada, yu gat wan kina oh, mi no kaikai tudeis na mi laik dai ya”. [Father, do you have a kina; I haven’t eaten for two days and I feel like dying]

Well, he does meet plenty of the types, some genuine and some thugs, but has never been approached by a young lass like this. At first he ignored her, walked past but, after walking ten paces, turned around and walked back to her.

Some inner being told him to give her the ten kina he had with him to buy breakfast at the Ela Beach Service Station. Katie broke down and cried. This is her story.

A thoughtful book advocating the virtues of Melanesian law

DAVID GONOL

I HAVE always unashamedly taken huge pride in my beautiful and unique country, Papua New Guinea – the world leader in languages and cultures. And with a long tradition of law.

PNG was not in a legal vacuum when Europeans colonised its tribes. It already had customary laws governing its affairs.

The colonisers ignored these laws and imposed their own. So today about 98% of the legal principles governing PNG have their origin in English common law, which could adequately address problems back in England but not necessarily in PNG.

Our problems can be unique, but a Melanesian jurisprudence can adequately deal with them.

Indeed, our forefathers saw the weakness of English common law and duly made provision in our Constitution for us to develop our own version of it which is referred to as ‘underlying law’ or indigenous jurisprudence.

Govt department says newspaper’s allegations defamatory

KEITH JACKSON

JOHN Kali the head of PNG’s Department of Personnel Management has asked the PNG Post-Courier to retract what he terms “inaccurate and defamatory reporting” by an unnamed reporter.

Mr Kali said that two articles published in the newspaper concerned the appointment of an acting provincial administrator of Western Province.

The articles, on 18 and 20 January, were headlined ‘Corruption rates high in public offices’ and ‘Awaiting acting provincial administrator’.

The political tide that is building into a tsunami

PHIL FITZPATRICK

THERE are some interesting books coming out in the USA about the tide which brought us the seismic shock of the American election which tomorrow delivers us President Donald Trump.

This tide is the same one that has given us Brexit and the rise of far right political parties in Western democracies.

It is possible, but highly unlikely, that the same tide will wash through Papua New Guinea in 2017.

The undertow that created this tide is a growing disenchantment with conventional politics and the growing inequalities between rich and poor.

In the wash of the tide are serious questions about the very nature of democracy.

My Walk to Equality – voices of wisdom, optimism and hope

TRISH NICHOLSON

My Walk to Equality, edited by Rashmii Amoah Bell, Pukpuk Publications, 278 pages. Paperback $US10.53 or Kindle $US1.00. ISBN-10: 1542429242. ISBN-13: 978-1542429245. Available here from Amazon

MY Walk to Equality is a remarkable achievement. Not only as Papua New Guinea’s first anthology of women writers but also for its inclusiveness, breadth of vision and balance.

The 45 writers of these 81 stories, essays and poems originate from many different parts of PNG and its islands.

Their day-jobs include aircraft mechanic, nurse, educator, lawyer, home producer, student and administrator.

They write as mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, friends and neighbours as well as professionals in their respective fields.

When “a great initiative” becomes a “can’t find a way” problem?

KEITH JACKSON

I HAVE never met Bronte Moules who is our (that is Australia’s) deputy high commissioner in Papua New Guinea – an important post in the PNG-Australia relationship.

But if I ever do meet her – and I hope to on a forthcoming visit to PNG – I think I’ll like her. I’ve found Bronte positive, helpful and a person who clearly has Papua New Guinean interests at heart.

Last October, Bronte was also expressing encouragement about what was the forthcoming publication of Rashmii Amoah Bell’s landmark collection of PNG women’s writing, My Walk to Equality, much mentioned in these columns of late.

“This sounds like a great initiative,” Bronte wrote to me in an email. “It’s something that we’d be interested, in principle, in supporting in some way.”

We, in this case, being the Australian High Commission.

Two Melanesian films that come with high commendation

PETER KRANZ

WELL Rose and I watched two most magnificent Melanesian films last year and both brought us to tears, so I reckon it's time for a short review.

The first was Mr Pip (yes, it came out three years ago but better late than never) starring Hugh Laurie and Bougainville actors Eka Darville, Xzannjah Matsi and Healesville Joel.

It is based on the novel by New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones and is set in Bougainville during the civil war in the 1990s. The film is marvellously shot and acted and the music is by Tim Finn of the band Crowded House.

‘Walk to Equality’ is a confidence boost for PNG women writers

INTERVIEW

THIS week My Walk to Equality, the first ever collection of women’s writing by Papua New Guinean authors was made available to the public through Amazon Books prior to its dual launch in Port Moresby and Brisbane on International Women's Day in March. Leiao Gerega of the PNG Post-Courier newspaper spoke with the book’s editor, Rashmii Amoah Bell….

Leiao - As the woman behind this remarkable project, please can you tell us a little about yourself, your journey with writing, the challenges you face and your current profession.

Rashmii - My name is Rashmii Bell and I am from Sio in the Tewaii-Siassi local level government area in Morobe Province.

Reading has always been a part of my life so it feels like a natural progression to move into writing. I grew up surrounded by books in my family home and I have been able to access community libraries in Australia.

Will 2017 be the year PNG subverts its social media?

KEITH JACKSON

ON THE eve of the new year – which is 2017 not 1984 – Papua New Guinea’s cumbersomely named ‘National Information and Communications Technology Authority’, NICTA – continued its surreptitious assault on the nation’s freedom of speech.

According to its own propaganda, NICTA is “taking steps towards addressing the gross misuse and abuse of social media in Papua New Guinea”.

While there are undoubtedly reckless cowboys using PNG’s social media, one would have thought that the existing body of law related to defamation, privacy and related issues might be sufficient to deal with the slanderers, recalcitrants and other low life that unfortunately frequent every aspect of human existence – including the internet.

But no, the social media apparently require special oppression.

Temlett Conibeer returns to a kind of civilisation

PHIL FITZPATRICK

The Melancholy Chronicle of a Reluctant Librarian by ACT Marke, Frogmouth Press, 2016, ISBN: 978-0646958057, 375 pages, AU$30, including postage, from the author, frogmouth07@live.com.au

TEMLETT Conibeer is a much misunderstood character.

And, I suspect, so too is his faithful chronicler, Andrew Marke.

Andrew likes to read 19th century Victorian novels. I think he might have read them all. And, as he has observed, people in those days knew how to write.

Essentially, what he has done in the five Temlett Conibeer novels is take a 19th century character, with all his repressed and conservative views and mannerisms, and dropped him into the 20th century - in particular the liberated 1960s and 70s.

How to get published in 2017

ANDREW MARKE

Andrew Marke is author of the Temlett Conibeer series about the adventures of a colonial PNG malaria control officer. I’ll do a review of his latest book when I’ve finished reading it. I think a lot of people don’t understand his writing and don’t realise he is taking the micky. Marke is an avid fan of 19th century Victorian literature with all its terrible repression and conservatism and he plays on that in his main characters. He worked for the Papua New Guinean malaria eradication service for around 15 years until 1975 and was a friend of our late PNG Attitude colleague, David Wall - PF

YOU HAVE written your novel and now need to get it commercially published: Why? Because it is impossible for an individual to obtain other than limited local distribution.

It also means the publisher pays for editing, proof reading, typesetting, printing and advertising, all of which are expensive.

I have written five novels and only attempted to approach publishers for the first and last.

Is there an honest politician? The emergence of Espe Lamplap

PHIL FITZPATRICK

We offer a preview of Phil Fitzpatrick’s forthcoming Inspector Metau novel, ‘The Case of the Good Politician’, available soon as a free New Year’s present on PNG Attitude. “Hopefully it will be a reminder to people to consider their vote more carefully in 2017,” says Phil. Here's an extract from Chapter 8….

WHEN the Ex-Member had won his seat in the previous term of parliament he thought all his Christmases had come at once. He had mortgaged everything he owned on the outcome and had pulled in favours and clan obligations where he could and taken out a big loan from his new friend, Mr Han.

If he had lost he didn’t know what he would do. He would be penniless and the shame would be unbearable. But that was all behind him. He had paid out all of his accumulated dinau and come to an amicable agreement with Mr Han to repay him in unspecified kind rather than money.

A well written & illustrated PNG children’s book

PHIL FITZPATRICK

The Legend of Timbaloo the Clever Cockatoo by Rebecca Duckworth, CreateSpace, 2016, ISBN: 978-1539774792, 30 pages, US$15.00 (AU$20.40/K47.60) plus postage. Available from Amazon here

THE largest template of the online self-publishing company CreateSpace is about A4 size and this is what Rebecca Duckworth has used for her new book about a sulphur-crested cockatoo called Timbaloo.

Rebecca has simply dropped her illustrations into each page with the words underneath. With a bit of effort the illustrations and text in such a format could be merged for a more interesting effect.

This is intended to be the first in a series of children’s books and I expect the design will be refined as Rebecca masters the CreateSpace medium.

Understanding youth: a PNG novel with an engaging narrative

PHIL FITZPATRICK

An Uncertain Future by James Thomas, Pukpuk Publications, 2016, ISBN: 978-1541143739, 124 pages, available from Amazon Books US$6.03 plus postage.

A LONG time ago Sir Paulias Matane suggested that the best books for Papua New Guinea “should be small, simple and cheap”.

Sir Paulias stuck to that formula in the many books that he wrote after his first one, My Childhood in New Guinea, which had big type, simple language and was only 112 pages long.

I’m not sure whether Papua New Guineans would agree with that formula nowadays. Many read long and complex books and quite a few Papua New Guinean writers produce long and complex books.

Hearing ourselves in the clutter & calamity of trying times

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Voice of Senemai: A Collection of Poems and Prose by Vagi Samuel Jnr, JDT Desktop Publishing, 2016, ISBN 978-1540761132, 146 pages, US$5.00 plus postage from Amazon

VAGI Samuel Jnr has been a regular contributor to PNG Attitude for a couple of years. Most of his contributions have been poetry but he has also published the occasional piece of prose.

In October this year, I was particularly taken by his short story, Kings of the Fish, Servants of the Sea - A Senemai Tradition, an entry in the Crocodile Prize.

Vagi has now published a book of his poetry and prose with the help of Jordan Dean, who has mastered the CreateSpace system and is rapidly catching up with Pukpuk Publications in output.  Jordan will publish another new book by Julie Mota soon.

An author's challenging journey: How ‘Elep Returns’ was published

ARNOLD MUNDUA

Elep Returns: The Story of a Tree and its Conversion into Paper by Arnold Mundua.  Published (reprint) by Medtec, ISBN: 9789384007096, 160 pages.  Available from the author here

AFTER reading my book, Elep Returns: The Story of a Tree and its Conversion into Paper, many people asked me if I been to Japan. I said no. They asked me about the Tatachi Paper Mill. I said no.

There have been many other questions and statements about the book.

Writers Phil Fitzpatrick and Iriani Wanma recently revealed that Elep Returns was the first book they had read where the main character was a tree. Several other readers have made the same comment.

So I felt it would be a good idea to give an overview of how I conceived and wrote Elep Returns and provide some insights about the book.

Elep Returns tells the story of how a tree – Elep - grew in Kandrian on the south coast of West New Britain and was cut down and exported to Japan as a round log.

How a mother dealt with Bougainville's carnage & deprivation

ROSA KOIAN

Behind the Blockade by Veronica Hatutasi, Word Publishing Company, 2015. K66, 233 pages. ISBN-10: 998089024X. Available from Veronica at this email

VERONICA Hatutasi is a Bougainvillean, currently editor of Papua New Guinea’s only Tok Pisin newspaper, Wantok.

In 2004, Divine Word University recognised her with a journalism award for her work reporting the Bougainville crisis for over a decade.

In Behind the Blockade Veronica writes a personal account of the crisis in a journey takes her from the peaceful comfort of her happy family home in Toniva near Kieta to her home village of Monoitu in Siwai and then her final forced departure from Bougainville to Port Moresby.

Chalkies on the frontline in PNG’s battle for knowledge

DARRYL DYMOCK | The Daily Telegraph

FIFTY years ago, while Australian eyes were fixed on a contentious war in Vietnam, the army quietly began sending another taskforce overseas. This time it was to Papua New Guinea, and for a very different purpose.

Early in 1966, Denis O’Rourke should have been in his second year as a science teacher at Forbes High School in central western NSW.

Instead he found himself in the Australian Army, courtesy of prime minister Bob Menzies’ introduction of compulsory two-year “National Service” for a selection of 20-year-old males.

A novel both instructive & infuriating for PNG women

PHIL FITZPATRICK

A Bride’s Price: A Novel by Arnold Mundua, 2nd edition, Medtec, New Delhi, 2014, ISBN: 978-9384007065, 274 pages, available from Abe Books, US$3.90 plus postage.

I GUESS many people have memories of lost love in their lives. The relationships that could have been but didn’t quite make it to the finish line for one reason or another, gradually becoming the stuff of random dreams and nostalgia.

This beguiling and bitter sweet novel is an account of one such lost love.

It is a familiar and perennial story in western literature and, indeed, in western media, especially television and film.

The infatuation with a goodtime girl who leads the gullible hero on a merry chase only to abandon him, the intervention of the kind-hearted homebody woman and then, inevitably, the destruction of the goodtime girl.

Attack along the Black Cat Track : now the full story is told

KEITH JACKSON

Attack on the Black Cat Track, Max Carmichael, Melbourne Books, November 2016, $29.95, ISBN: 9781925556018

ON 10 September 2013 seven Australians and one New Zealander set out on an epic adventure to trek Papua New Guinea’s remote Black Cat Track.

Situated to the north of the Kokoda Track, the Black Cat is said to be tougher than its more famous neighbour and the trekkers were keen to test themselves against the gruelling terrain.

Poetry is Therapy – plain-talking Papua New Guineans will like this

MICHAEL DOM

Poetry is Therapy – Life beyond the Dark Clouds by Bruce Jacob Blada, CreateSpace, 2016, 86 pages, ISBN 978-1539597094, US$4.50 plus postage from Amazon Books

IT IS not possible to disagree with this title – poetry is indeed therapy. And that is the take-home message from this collection of poems from Bruce Jacob Blada.

There is a life beyond the dark clouds and Mr Blada has travelled there. These poems are a collection of his adventures and misadventures.

Bruce’s poetry is plain and easy to read. He does not hide his thoughts behind a thick veil or web of intrigues, or a ‘dark cloud’ of secrecy that requires the reader to wade through with caution.

With an all-encompassing agenda, this is a voice to listen to

MICHAEL DOM

Cultural Refugees – An Anthology of Poems, Julie Mota, CreateSpace, 2016, 56 pages, ISBN: 978-1539357619, US$8 plus postage from Amazon Books

THIS MAY well be the first book-length poetry collection by a Papua New Guinean woman produced in the last decade.

And just as women play an overlooked but vital and often timely role in our domestic lives, this contribution to PNG’s literary culture is just what we need to even the balance and add the right amount of spice to make a much more hearty home-made meal.

Julie Mota is no stranger to creative work, in fact, she has a degree in it. After graduating in fine arts at the University of Papua New Guinea she began working as an artist and writer, with her art exhibited and collected in major art galleries and museums in Europe and the United States.

Musty, dusty books & the goldmines that lie within

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I’M AN inveterate rummager among the narrow aisles of second hand and antiquarian bookshops.

I frequent the second hand bookshops in the hope of stumbling across some treasure that the bookseller hasn’t realised is valuable or which interests me but perhaps no one else.

These discoveries are few and far between because I must sort through mountains of dross. This is especially so if the bookshop is disorganised. Sometimes the disorganisation is so great, I don’t even bother.

Booksellers who sort their shelves by category and arrange the authors alphabetically are blessed.

The antiquarian booksellers are a different matter. Not only are they organised but they know the value of what they sell. But they are worth a look if you are a PNG-phobe.

Writing that makes a difference: an author doing his own thing

JORDAN DEAN

Jorda n Dean has not only been quietly writing short stories and poems and publishing them using CreateSpace for a while now, he has also been helping other authors do the same thing. So far Jordan has published a collection of short stories and two collections of poetry. A fourth book is nearly complete. His independent approach is inspiring and we hope other Papua New Guinean writers will follow in his footsteps – PF

I’VE BEEN writing poetry and short stories for over a decade now. After completing my primary and secondary education in Alotau, Milne Bay Province, in 2003 I was selected to study Bachelor in Arts, majoring in literature at the University of Papua New Guinea.

My lecturers were the Papua New Guinean literary legends, Professor Steven Winduo, Russell Soaba and Dr Regis Stella.

That’s when I started writing about my experiences, reflections, perspectives, feelings, emotions, dreams, aspirations and everyday issues: issues capable of depriving us of our freedom.

As a student at that time, I saw writing in English as presenting the kind of empowered voice of resistance that literature had offered throughout the post-colonial world.

Pukpuk Publications winds down: PNG writers must take charge

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I THINK we’re all generally agreed that the future of creative writing in Papua New Guinea will have to rely on digital publishing using online services such as Amazon’s CreateSpace.

Without serious government support or input from private philanthropic sources prepared to provide ongoing funding, there appears to be no other option.

This is not as bad as it sounds because digital publishing offers many advantages over conventional publishing. So much so that established writers are beginning to use it.

It gives writers control over their work, including editorial and marketing options, and its print-on-demand capacity mitigates the need to carry large stocks of books that may or may not be sold.

The story of a grasshopper, a caterpillar & a woman writer

IRIANI WANMA

SOME people know early on in life what they’re good at, while others discover what they’re good at later. I’m in this second group.

Arnold Mundua wrote recently that he didn’t think he could ever become an author. I never planned to be one either; I just knew I liked to write – a joy I discovered as a teenager through the simple act of composing letters to my family and friends.

It’s amazing how one thing leads to another. In 2014, my story Oa the grasshopper & Kaipa the caterpillar, won the Crocodile Prize for children’s writing.

At the time that award was sponsored by Buk bilong Pikinini and I can recall the moment of disbelief and then uncontrollable excitement when I read Keith’s email informing me I had won.

For me, having my entry included in the Crocodile Prize Anthology that year was an achievement in itself and I was absolutely delighted but to win first prize in the category was definitely the cherry on top.

Help required: What were the names of Vincent Eri’s parents?

KEITH JACKSON

AUTHOR and historian Eric Johns has a dilemma. He’s putting the finishing touches to a biographical piece on the late Sir Vincent Eri (pictured) and has been unable to determine the names of his father and mother.

“I know that his dad was on the Bulldog Track, carrying for the Australians during the war,” says Eric.

“He became ill, returned home to Moveave and died soon after.

“His mother had died before the war started.

“But I haven't been able to track down their names.

“Could you possibly help me with this?”

Work of fiction about Papua New Guinea has the ring of truth

PHIL FITZPATRICK

The White Mary by Kira Salak, Picador, New York, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-312-42904-1, 351 pages. Available from Amazon Books for $US14.86 plus postage

THIS IS one of those books that slips under the radar and which you only find by accident when you’re looking for something else.

I don’t know whether it was ever released in Australia and I doubt that it ever made it to Papua New Guinea.

It became another one of those things written about Papua New Guinea that Papua New Guineans never got to see.

I received my American copy second hand and it came with a Denver to Orlando United Airlines boarding pass as a bookmark.