Ask the Author: Golda Mowe
Answered Questions (7)
Golda Mowe
Dear Anne, I am sorry I took so long to write back a reply. I have been trying to think of the best way to reply to this question. I have not been to the national libraries in Semenanjung so I cannot speak about them. But last year, when the Sarawak State Library was about to open a branch in Sibu here, they invited officers, teachers and writers to attend a meeting for selecting books. Excluding the library officials, less than 10 of us turned up. We were given book catalogues from a wide range of publishers, local and international, and asked to circle the titles we would like to see on their shelves. If this is the current standard of operation for government funded libraries, then I think that readers and researchers should take advantage of it and make their requests known to the libraries. Librarians, after all, cannot be seen to be partial to any particular publisher. They do actively seek out local writers and buy books from us. That is why there is usually a large collection of local books among the newer purchases. Readers should try to be active participants of the process. I think most librarians would like that because it will diversify their collection of titles.
I came from an under privileged family and I had plenty of books to read when I was growing up. The municipal public library was my favourite haunt. I also have friends in school who lend me books that their parents bought them. Reading as a hobby happens naturally in my family because we have so little to distract us. So I have a feeling that it will be easier for you to get less privileged children to read, unless of course, they have a smartphone or a game console of sorts. I know that some people come up with ideas to reward children for reading. I am not too keen on that method because then children will just read anything, even literature they dislike, just so they could get a reward. This, I think, promotes the idea that reading is boring. Just show them a range of topics - fiction and non-fiction - and let them pick what piques their curiosity. Children also love attention, so if you can find volunteers who would listen to the children discuss the books they read, it will be a great confidence booster for them too.
Hope my answer helps.
I came from an under privileged family and I had plenty of books to read when I was growing up. The municipal public library was my favourite haunt. I also have friends in school who lend me books that their parents bought them. Reading as a hobby happens naturally in my family because we have so little to distract us. So I have a feeling that it will be easier for you to get less privileged children to read, unless of course, they have a smartphone or a game console of sorts. I know that some people come up with ideas to reward children for reading. I am not too keen on that method because then children will just read anything, even literature they dislike, just so they could get a reward. This, I think, promotes the idea that reading is boring. Just show them a range of topics - fiction and non-fiction - and let them pick what piques their curiosity. Children also love attention, so if you can find volunteers who would listen to the children discuss the books they read, it will be a great confidence booster for them too.
Hope my answer helps.
Golda Mowe
If I'm tired, I sleep. If I'm restless, I read a favourite book because I find that they always inspire me to write. If I am in the middle of a manuscript and I get a block, it generally means that I don't have enough information, so I go out and look for information. But if I can’t get out – eg. I’m in a plane or a boat – I will start writing nonsense for a paragraph or two. This usually untangles my mind and helps me continue to write.
Golda Mowe
I have a cousin who used to do Taekwando when he was a kid. He would come home with sprains and bruises, but he loved the sport so much he represented his school a few times in competitions. Writing is a bit like that. I get emotionally bruised and hurt by rejection, I get discouraged by people who brush my work aside because they read the blurb and decided that I am another Kipling wannabe. But I still write on because it is fun. In fact, I enjoy the process so much I have a website to put up my stories for free.
Golda Mowe
You will get better every day. It doesn't matter if someone thinks that you are a bad writer now; one day you will be an excellent one. Keep learning, and keep improving. Explore every crazy, remote, or insignificant idea out there. That boring bookkeeping class you're in right now may one day help you write a white-collar thriller, you never know.
Golda Mowe
I have just finished an anthology of Sci-fi short stories for children, and the manuscript is with a publisher in Malaysia right now. I have completed the edit of Nuing's Journey, but I would like to let it 'marinate' for a bit more before I show it to a publisher. I am also a third way through a modern thriller based in Singapore. I have three other completed manuscripts that I'm saving for a time when I know what I want to do with them.
Golda Mowe
I had a huge dose of traditional Iban stories from my Iban great-aunt and lots of tall tales about hunting in the jungle from my father. I grew up listening to stories of clever talking animals, so it is very natural for me to think of them as sentient beings who make plans and take sides. The rainforest is also a great source of inspiration. Walking among living plants always make me feel as though I have stepped into a magical world.
Golda Mowe
The manuscript I am currently working on is a sequel to Iban Dream. Most of my ideas for this new book, Nuing’s Journey, are from the area of curses and how the Ibans used to treat someone they thought was cursed. Instead of animals, this book is more focused on spirits and monsters found in Iban belief. It has been great fun to write especially since I am writing about the demon huntsmen, as well as one of my favourite demi-gods, Bungai Nuing aka Sempurai.
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