Book Blog Tour: An Interview With Candy Gourlay

I am posting this interview with Candy Gourlay done by my student on the Creative Writing Class I conduct at St. Paul's University Manila for this term. This is one example of an activity to extend the reading experience and get advice from an experienced author.

Student: What challenges do you face as a writer?

Candy Gourlay: A writer needs to be thoughtful, quiet and present when writing and there are so many distractions that take me away from my writing such as the internet, household chores, social occasions, and speaking engagements. I need the time to read quietly and stare at my computer for hours trying to live my story in my head, but there are so many interruptions. I will often put a timer on to force my mind to focus for just 30 minutes at a time, making myself do just the one thing and not allowing myself to do other things.

Student: What made you do this book?

Candy Gourlay: I discovered that Filipinos had been put on display at the 1904 World Fair and I realised that just the year before the Philippine American War had ended – so many Filipinos had died during the war! I couldn't believe that the World Fair Filipinos would have been unaware of that. Most of them would have known someone who was killed. I wondered if we were really that seduced by American culture that we didn't notice how degrading it was to be put there as war trophies.

Student: Why did Luki's mother die?

Candy Gourlay: Early death was common in those days because a lot of the medicines and treatments that keep disease at bay today didn't exist such as antibacterial, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. Also, the arrival of large numbers of foreigners and outsiders to Luki's village brought diseases that the villagers would not have had any immunities to. Americans like to say that when they colonized the Philippines they brought us sanitation and medical advancement. But they also spread diseases (there was a Cholera Pandemic in Asia and Americans brought it in from other countries) and they even created changes that triggered new diseases (Many Filipinos who signed up for the Constabulary organized by the Americans died of Beri Beri and only in the 1930s did the Americans realise it was because they were serving the wrong kind of rice to the troops).

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