Bookworm Literary Festival 2014: Musharraf Ali Farooqi
This morning we were back at the Bookworm for yet another event. I wasn't sure about taking the kids to see Pakistani-Canadian author Musharraf Ali Farooqi. While he has written both children's and adult books, the particular book he was scheduled to discuss, Rabbit Rap, is a satire geared to the older end of the YA range. I hoped that even if the subject was a little beyond my kids' years, they may absorb something about writing in general. Besides, it isn't every day that we get to meet someone who has been shortlisted for one of the Man Literary Prizes.
We took our seats behind a couple of rows of high schoolers from the British School and listened as Farooqi talked for the full hour, mostly fielding questions from the audience.
More after the jump
To begin with, Farooqi discussed Rabbit Rap. It is a fable about rabbits (why rabbits? because it was the first creature that came to mind, he said) who, now rid of all their natural predators, set about creating a new modern way of life, abandoning their warrens for above-ground living. This, of course, leads to a various breakdowns of society as progress isn't all it is supposed to be, and the devious nature of rabbits gets in the way. Originally intending to write a graphic novel with his wife illustrating, Farooqi decided he wanted to keep it an illustrated novel because he really like what he had written and did not want to compromise on the text. Having read about half the book myself, I can see how his writing might not lend itself to the comic book format, but the illustrations help keep the overall tone light and ridiculous.
From there, Farooqi opened up the floor for Q&A, and the British school students asked some great questions, mostly about his becoming a writer. Farooqi said that what led him to be a writer was his being a passionate reader. This could have led him to other careers like librarian or editor, but he really wanted to write.
One of the students asked him if he ever faced frustration in writing. He admitted with a resounding "yes!" that he did, giving the example of one novel he spent ten years writing. The frustration, he said, was because he had difficulty finding the right voice for his story. His advice was that sometimes "the story is suggesting a better way to you." I thought this was an interesting way to describe the process of overcoming this kind of struggle.
Farooqi also answered a line of questions that led him to come back to the idea of being a passionate reader leading him to a writing career. Voracious reading will expose one to great books, but also boring books. Often reading a boring book can lead to asking the question, "Why is this book so boring?" And thinking this often means imagining a better way to tell the story, maybe even thinking of a better book.
While Farooqi is best known for his literary fiction, he confessed how much really enjoyed writing something comic. "Sometimes you get tickled by your own jokes," he laughed. A writer can come up with something grand and serious, he continued, but it doesn't give the same kick as being funny. When I asked Myles later what he thought of Farooqi, he pointed to this as an example of something he found particularly memorable.
Currently, Farooqi is writing a series of stories published online under the larger title The Magic Lantern as well as a novel with the intriguing working title Tango Noir. Farooqi was a tango instructor for a time in Toronto, and he wants to draw upon some of the shady characters he knew from then.
At the end he kindly signed our copy of Rabbit Rap. It has only been published in India and Pakistan, so it will be an unusual part of our personal library. Already queued up on my Kindle, is another book of his that I am excited to read, Between Clay and Dust. It is the book for which he received notice from the Man Asian Literary Prize jurors. I'm also intrigued by his books for younger children, like Tik-Tik, the Master of Time (which his wife also illustrated) and The Cobbler's Holiday. I have found them on Amazon, so they may be in our future as well.
We took our seats behind a couple of rows of high schoolers from the British School and listened as Farooqi talked for the full hour, mostly fielding questions from the audience.
More after the jump
To begin with, Farooqi discussed Rabbit Rap. It is a fable about rabbits (why rabbits? because it was the first creature that came to mind, he said) who, now rid of all their natural predators, set about creating a new modern way of life, abandoning their warrens for above-ground living. This, of course, leads to a various breakdowns of society as progress isn't all it is supposed to be, and the devious nature of rabbits gets in the way. Originally intending to write a graphic novel with his wife illustrating, Farooqi decided he wanted to keep it an illustrated novel because he really like what he had written and did not want to compromise on the text. Having read about half the book myself, I can see how his writing might not lend itself to the comic book format, but the illustrations help keep the overall tone light and ridiculous.
From there, Farooqi opened up the floor for Q&A, and the British school students asked some great questions, mostly about his becoming a writer. Farooqi said that what led him to be a writer was his being a passionate reader. This could have led him to other careers like librarian or editor, but he really wanted to write.
One of the students asked him if he ever faced frustration in writing. He admitted with a resounding "yes!" that he did, giving the example of one novel he spent ten years writing. The frustration, he said, was because he had difficulty finding the right voice for his story. His advice was that sometimes "the story is suggesting a better way to you." I thought this was an interesting way to describe the process of overcoming this kind of struggle.
Farooqi also answered a line of questions that led him to come back to the idea of being a passionate reader leading him to a writing career. Voracious reading will expose one to great books, but also boring books. Often reading a boring book can lead to asking the question, "Why is this book so boring?" And thinking this often means imagining a better way to tell the story, maybe even thinking of a better book.
While Farooqi is best known for his literary fiction, he confessed how much really enjoyed writing something comic. "Sometimes you get tickled by your own jokes," he laughed. A writer can come up with something grand and serious, he continued, but it doesn't give the same kick as being funny. When I asked Myles later what he thought of Farooqi, he pointed to this as an example of something he found particularly memorable.
Currently, Farooqi is writing a series of stories published online under the larger title The Magic Lantern as well as a novel with the intriguing working title Tango Noir. Farooqi was a tango instructor for a time in Toronto, and he wants to draw upon some of the shady characters he knew from then.
At the end he kindly signed our copy of Rabbit Rap. It has only been published in India and Pakistan, so it will be an unusual part of our personal library. Already queued up on my Kindle, is another book of his that I am excited to read, Between Clay and Dust. It is the book for which he received notice from the Man Asian Literary Prize jurors. I'm also intrigued by his books for younger children, like Tik-Tik, the Master of Time (which his wife also illustrated) and The Cobbler's Holiday. I have found them on Amazon, so they may be in our future as well.
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