Well, well ,well . . . I’m sure you’re wondering whether I am still alive. (To be perfectly honest, I’m wondering myself.) It is now three weeks since GLF and I’m only now somewhat back to normal. In case you weren’t there, I moderated six events and shot 10 episodes of the new show, to say nothing of the small matter of launching my new book, Love in the Tsunami. My friends Dominick and Jane Chilcott were over here from London to read funny bits from it, as well as my readers here – Gill Westaway, Savithri Rodrigo and Dushy Parakrama – and we had an absolute ball. Because of the motorway there were many more people at GLF this year, and if this carries on, Galle Fort simply won’t be able to accommodate all of us. (Maybe we can have next year’s festival by the side of the motorway to make it easier for everyone.)
I also have lots of pictures, taken by Sophie Watkins, which Andrew will upload. Lots of juicy interviews too, including a very interesting one-on-one with Tom Stoppard, another with Joanna Trollope (who was an absolute doll!) and one with John Boyne, who wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. If only they let me into the editing rooms I will have the series out for you by the start of April. Keep your fingers crossed.
This blog is too late to tell you about my rather embarrassing appearance on Danu’s Café Colombo, which goes on air tonight. And maybe that’s just as well. Oh, and I will be doing a book-signing at Vijitha Yapa’s Crescat at the start of April when they expect the next shipment of Love in the Tsunami, so please look out for that! And now, please, please, let me go back to sleep . . .
I had an absolutely brilliant time in the Maldives where I was flown, courtesy of the Maldivian Cultural Ministry, to conduct my all-day Creative Writing Workshop. It was a small group of us there – compared to the crowd I generally get in Colombo – which made it all the more friendly and intimate, and gave me the opportunity of answering everyone’s questions in greater detail. And in fact it was a very intelligent and perceptive audience that took part, with a very wide-ranging number of concerns.
Halfway through we broke for an absolutely delicious buffet lunch (as always food is the most important item on my agenda!). This was held al fresco on white, white Maldivian sand underneath a startling blue sky. Heaven! I am absolutely grateful to Simon Shareef who organized the whole event so ably, allowing me to reach out to a completely new readership in another country. This is always the most important sub-text in a writer’s life: as I’ve repeatedly said, I’d happily stand on a street corner giving out my books to passing strangers, if only I could be sure they would take them home to read, aognd not use them to wrap up the dog-meat!
Welll here it is, the final cut! This is the cover of my new book due to come out next January. It’s being launched at the Galle Lit Fest on Friday 20th January 2012, at Closenberg Hotel in Galle. The event is at 7 pm, so please come along if you’re down there, and listen to me and a few others make a fool of ourselves as we read funny (and sad) bits from it! My readers are: Gill Westaway (former Head of the British Council), Savithri Rodrigo, Dushy Parakrama and, if they can get away, HE Dominick Chillcott and his wife Jane Chillcott. Dominick used to be UK High Commissioner out here and is currently the British Ambassador in Iran.
The book itself is a combination of old and new stories, and I really hope you enjoy them. If you don’t catch me in Galle not to worry – I’m sure I’ll be doing some readings and signings in Colombo in the early new year.
And one last thing. Can you spot the misprint? I only spotted it the other day, literally hours before the book went to press, so they were able to change it in time! And if there are any others, please don’t tell me, I’d rather not know because it’s too late now.
Cheers,
Ashok
 We don’t know for certain, but we think that the Ashok Ferrey Show is the only English-language arts programme in South Asia. Now this is not as grand as it might sound if you stop to think about it. We all know there’s no money in the arts, and we South Asians love our money: we’re always telling our kids to become doctors, lawyers or accountants. One of the secret subtexts of this show is to make young people aware that there is such a thing as creativity, and that there’s more to life than just being a doctor, a lawyer or an accountant.
But it gets worse than that. We live today in an age of quick-fire impulse and instant gratification. We’re always rushing from one best thing to the next best thing, in too much of a hurry to stop, for fear we’ll miss out on something else. It seems to me we’re trapped in what I would call the fugitive present, in a sort of time capsule hurtling out into space. And nothing embodies this fugitive present better than the medium of TV. If you observe anyone watching TV, they will hug the remote control: if there’s even a hint of a suggestion that the programme is going to get boring they will click the button to change channel. There’ve been many surveys in the past where people were asked to make a choice between a month without sex and a month without their remote control, and a majority went for the no-sex option every time!
Contrast this with Art. For Art to have any validity at all, it needs to rise above and beyond this transitory, transient existence of ours. So picture this: my job is to somehow trap the timelessness of that art within the medium of this fugitive present. In the last two months I’ve been in the editing room looking at various interviews, and you can’t believe how it’s broken my heart to have to boil down one-and-a-half hours of good meat into twenty minutes of soup. And why twenty minutes? Because I know damn well you’d change channel if it were any longer!
So please watch the show. And if you’re one of those who thinks it’s too heavy, forgive me. Any lighter and it would degenerate into just any old chat-show (and there are now many of those – a whole genre, actually – spawned by this show). And if you think it’s too light, forgive me too. Any heavier and I know there’s a very real danger I’d lose you to your beloved remote control!
Thank you very much for listening, and enjoy your evening!
ETV re-live 5th Galle Literary Festival on the Ashok Ferrey Show
Tuesday, September 20, 2011, Colombo
 ETV – Colombo’s premier lifestyle station – proudly announced today that literary lovers can experience the magic of the 2010 Galle Literary Festival all over again, exclusively on the second season of the widely popular Ashok Ferry Show.
Putting a twist on things, ETV has Ashok Ferrey (famed author of ‘Serendipity’ and ‘Colpetty People’ and the host of the ‘Ashok Ferrey Show’) interviewing the world famous authors who participated at this year’s show. In this season – aptly titled “The Galle Files”, Ashok Ferry has every aspect covered, including the discussions the authors held, to the sunset parties they enjoyed at the literary festival.
“Series Two consists mainly of the many world-class foreign writers who came to this year’s Galle Literary Festival. If you didn’t see them there, you can catch them now. However, the whole point of the series is to encourage the arts among young people here: so I have included a selection of Sri Lankan artists too, such as Carl Muller, Menaka de Fonseka, the de Lanerolle brothers, Sureka Amerasinghe, Shevanthie Gunesekera and many many others,” says Ashok.
The Second Season of ETV’s the Ashok Ferry Show is a continuing part of the channel’s commitment to broadening the appreciation of arts in the country while supporting the development of talented local artists.
“It has always been ETV’s mandate to support arts, and most specially to promote literature among our audiences by giving them an enriching experience. We are happy to be associated and support an event like the Galle Literary Festival and working with Ashok Ferrey, has as always been an immense pleasure,” says Lakshaman Bandaranayake, Managing Director for Vanguard Management Services – ETV.
The Galle Literary Festival has become firmly established in the world literary circuit. From small beginnings it has become a favorite among authors and audiences alike. The 2011 festival saw the conglomeration of award winning writers, historians, poets and biographers from Ukraine, Malaysia, Nigeria, Australia, United States, South Africa, Turkey and Sri Lanka on one stage at the historical world heritage city of Galle. The four days were infused with solo and panel discussions, concerts, picnics, gourmet lunches, dinners and late night revues and readings. Young, amateur writers got to mingle with Gratiean, Commonwealth, Whitebread and other winners of such likes. Synonymous with learning and entertainment, the festival has even been named the one of the best literary festivals in the world and has earned a couple of accolades: “Magical”- Vikram Seth.
Speaking about the Galle Literary Festival being featured on the Ashok Ferrey show, Shyam Selvadurai, the acclaimed author of Funny Boy, Cinnamon Gardens and Swimming in the Monoon Sea and the Curator for Galle Literary Festival 2011 says, “The Galle Literary Festival is delighted at this new development in their partnership with ETV and feel that “Ashok Ferrey at the Galle Literary Festival” will bring our festival to a wider audience and thus spread the love of literature in Sri Lanka.”
About the host.
Ashok Ferrey was born in Sri Lanka but spent most of his early childhood in East and West Africa. Ashok’s first book, ‘Colpetty people’ was shortlisted for the Gratiean Prize of 2002. It remains to date the biggest selling book of English fiction by a Sri Lankan author. His second book ‘The Good Little Ceylonese Girl’ was also shortlisted for the Gratiaen prize, in 2006. His latest book, ‘serendipity’ has been shortlisted for this year’s State Literary Award.
About the show
The Ashok Ferrey Show is probably South Asia’s only Arts program. It runs for half an hour and caters to Colombo society’s ever growing interest in literature and its appreciation.
The show features absorbing discussions with eminent Sri Lankan authors and poets about their work, inspirations works, reading preferences, plans and anything else you would need to know about them. Some shows also showcase authors talking about the lives of bestselling authors and their works.
About ETV
ETV is known to bring top-of the line, English programs to its viewers. ETV is dedicated towards promoting English literacy in Sri Lanka and through “Ashok Ferrey at Galle Literary Festival 2011,” the ETV crew are focused in instilling the healthy and valuable habit of reading in the English TV viewing public. This one-of-a-kind show is their way of appreciating good literature and by being a part of this show, you will be perceived as a responsible corporate citizen promoting good values.
Catch the best of the 2011 Galle Lit Fest with some of the best authors in the world of contemporary literature discussing their work and inspirations. This 13-episode series will premiere on the 24th of September @ Sat 8 – 9pm, with repeats @ Sun 8 – 9am, Tue 10 – 11am & Thu 10 – 10.30pm only on ETV!
For further information, please contact Ruchini Fernando on tel: 0114614333 or e mail: ruchinif@vanguardlanka.com
Dear All,
This comes a week too late, so please forgive me! Just to say how much I enjoyed our session at the Nelung Arts Centre on Sunday September the 4th. As I keep repeating, I’m a lazy sod and can only summon up the energy to do an all-day workshop about once every two years: but every time I do one, I’m amazed at how much I myself get out of it. It’s wonderful to be in touch with a roomful of like-minded people who have the same literary problems and concerns as yourself, and this time round, I think I had the most engaging and engaged crowd of people I’ve ever had! You all arrived absolutely on time (and that’s no small feat on a lazy Sunday morning), you were great at asking pertinent questions, and most of all, you didn’t snore too much after lunch!
The rest is now up to you: I do hope you will build on what you got out of that session, and if you would like to meet perhaps once a month – to compare notes, or discuss issues relevant to the writer’s world, or simply read each other’s stuff out loud – I would be happy to come along and participate. I do know that Niloufer Peiris of the Nelung Centre was very generous about letting us use the hall that day, and I know that she would be equally happy to throw open the doors once a month or so if we want to meet. The rest is up to you. Viveca Rodrigo of the Nelung Centre will send this out on a round robin email, so you will have each other’s address.
Meanwhile, keep writing. Remember that even if you only get the chance to write out your weekly shopping list, it can be written creatively. How much of it is fiction depends entirely on you!
Much love to all of you,
Ashok
I never possessed a credit card or mobile phone. So it won’t come as a surprise then that computers too are a total mystery. (In fact I can safely say that I am to computers what Mother Theresa was to disco dancing.) I still write serious stuff with a pencil in a Raheema’s exercise book, and only transfer to the computer at the last minute. Five years ago, somebody persuaded me that a website was something I needed to have, so I went out and bought one at great expense. (Raheema’s said no, they didn’t have any in stock.) But nobody explained to me that a website is something you need to update frequently for it to be of any interest.
Fast forward five years, and when I next checked, the website still said things like, ‘Look out for Ashok’s new book The Good Little Ceylonese Girl,’ and ‘Long Live Premadasa.’ No, I made that last bit up, but you get the picture. The website was actually a cobweb site. Well I’m pleased to announce that all that is a thing of the past, and I now have a brand new, sparkling clean website, thanks to someone called Andrew Jebaraj who worked wonders with what little he was given.
‘Oh, and by the way,’ he said. ‘You’ll need to blog.’
‘No problem,’ I replied, ‘I’ve always been very regular.’
I’d always been bought up to understand, you see, that blogging was something you learnt early on in life (as in, You dirty boy, didn’t your Mother teach you to wash your hands after you’ve blogged? or Tell her I’ll call her back, I’m in the middle of a blog) .
But apparently not. So here you are then, Ashok Ferrey’s very first blog. And while you’re reading it you’ll have to excuse me, I’m off to Raheema’s to stock up on prunes. Nothing like prunes to keep you blogging regularly.
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