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What's this blog all about?

Hi, I'm Nicola - welcome to a blog begun in 2012 about family travel around the world, without leaving the UK.

I love travel adventures, but to save cash and keep my family's carbon footprint lower, I dreamt up a unique stay-at-home travel experience. So far I've visited 110 countries... without leaving the UK. Join me exploring the next 86! Or have a look at the "countries" you can discover within the UK by scrolling the labels (below right). Here's to happy travel from our doorsteps.

Around 2018 I tried a new way of writing my family's and my own UK travel adventures. Britain is a brilliant place for a staycation, mini-break and day trips. It's also a fantastic place to explore so I've begun to write up reports of places that are easy to reach by public transport. And when they are not that easy to reach I'll offer some tips on how to get there.

See www.nicolabaird.com for info about the seven books I've written, a link to my other blog on thrifty, creative childcare (homemadekids.wordpress.com) or to contact me.

Friday 28 December 2012

Read around the world

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post shares the books that convey a sense of nationhood. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  

I love using books to help me get under the skin of a country. Sometimes I ask my journalism students what book they recommend - poet and novelist Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is the title most likely to come up, although I don't have that many students from Nigeria. There is a blogger (of course), who has gone a million times better - she's managed to read herself around the world. You can see her brilliant blog at http://ayearofreadingtheworld.com. Definitely worth following.

This is her selection of books, what a star.
  • Afghanistan Khaled Hosseini The Kite RunnerA Thousand Splendid Suns / Anna Badkhen Waiting for the Taliban / Emmanuel Guibert The Photographer /  (as told to) Batya Swift Yasgur Behind the Burqa / Atiq Rahimi A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear; The Patience Stone
  • Albania Ismail Kardare The Palace of DreamsBroken April / Fatos KongoliThe Loser
  • Algeria Leïla Marouane The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris / Anouar Benmalek Abduction / Assia Djebar So Vast the Prison / Boualem Sansal An Unfinished Business / Al-Tahir Wattar The Earthquake / Anouar Benmalek The Lovers of Algeria / Yasmina Khadra The Attack
  • Andorra Albert Salvadó The Teacher of Cheops
  • Angola José Eduardo Agualusa My Father’s WivesCreole / Pepetela The Return of the Water Spirit / Ondjaki Good Morning ComradesThe Whistler / Jose Eduardo Agualusa The Book of Chameleons
  • Antigua and Barbuda Jamaica Kincaid Lucy; Annie John / Marie-Elena John Unburnable / Althea Prince Loving this ManLadies of the Night / Gisele Isaac Considering Venus
  • Argentina Martin Kohan Seconds Out / César Aira How I Became a NunAn Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter / Ernesto Sábato The Tunnel / Alicia Steimberg Musicians and Watchmakers / Jorges Luis Borges / Tomás Eloy Martínez Purgatory (trans. Frank Wynne) / Matias Nespolo 7 Ways to Kill a Cat (trans. Frank Wynne) / Carlos Gamerro The Islands / Iosi HavilioOpendoor / Luisa Valenzuela / Ricardo Piglia / Guillermo Martínez / Manuel Puig / Adolfo Bioy Casares The Invention of Morel / Julio Cortázar Hopscotch
  • Armenia Armand Inezian Bringing Ararat / Grigoris Balakian Armenian Golgotha
  • Australia Tim Winton Cloudstreet / Helen Garner The Children’s Bach / Markus Zusak The Book Thief / Nam Le The Boat / Andrew McGahan The White Earth / Elizabeth Jolley / Alex Miller Lovesong
  • Austria Elias Canetti The Torch in my Ear / Anna Kim Frozen Time / Thomas Bernhard Extinction / Stefan Zweig / Julya Rabinovich Splithead
  • Azerbaijan Gioulzar Akhmedova Magnolia / Maksud Ibragimbekov / Anar Razayev / ? Ali and Nino
  • The Bahamas Ian Strachan God’s Angry Babies / Garth Buckner Thine is the Kingdom
  • Bahrain Ali Al Saeed Quixotiq / Sarah A Al Sahfei Yummah
  • Bangladesh Taslima Nasrin Shame / Tahmima Anam The Good Muslim / Humayun Ahmed To the Woods Dark and Deep / Ekhlasuddin Ahmed When the Evening Darkens / Shawkat Osman The Laughter of a Slave / Anwar Pasha Rifles Bread Women
  • Barbados Karen Lord Redemption in Indigo / Agymah Kamau Flickering ShadowsPictures of a Dying Man / Glenville Lovell Fire in the CanesSong of NightToo Beautiful to Die
  • Belarus Artur Klinov The Sun City of Dreams / Uladzimir Karatkievich King Stakh’s Wild Hunt / Uladzimir Bykau Sotnikau / Viktar Martsinovich Paranoia / Svetlana Alexievich Voices from Chernobyl
  • Belgium Hergé The Adventures of Tintin / Peter Terrin The Guard / Stefan Brijs The Angel Maker / Francois Emmanuel Invitation to a Voyage / Dimitri Verhulst The Misfortunates / Louis Paul Boon My Little War
  • Belize Zoila Ellis On Heroes, Lizards and Passion
  • Benin Gisèle Hountondji / Jean Pliya / Florent Couao-Zotti / Adelaide Fassinou / Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr Stories We Tell Each Other
  • Bhutan Kunzang Choden The Circle of Karma / Karma Ura The Hero with a Thousand Eyes / T Sangay Wangchuk Seeing with the Third Eye / Dorji Penjore Bomena / Pema Euden Coming Home / Sonam Kinga
  • Bolivia José Edmundo Paz-Soldán / Víctor Montoya / Renato Prada Oropeza / Giovanna Rivero Sweet Blood / Juan de Recacoechea American Visa
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlata Filipovic Zlata’s Diary / Wojciech TochmanLike Eating a Stone / Saša Stanišić How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone / Aleksandar Hemon The Lazarus Project / Ivo Andric The Bridge on the Drina
  • Botswana Angus, Maisie and Travers McNeice The Lion Children / Bessie Head A Question of Power
  • Brazil Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro House of the Fortunate BuddhasAn Invincible Memory / Clarice Lispector / Rubem Fonseca / Paulo Freire / Clarice Lispector / Jorge Amado
  • Brunei Eva Maria Kershaw Dusun Folktales: A Collection of Eighty-eight Folktales in the Dusun Language of Brunei with English Translations / Christopher Sun (aka Sun Tze Yun) Four Kings
  • Bulgaria Elias Canetti The Tongue Set Free / Kalin Terziyski Is there Anybody to Love You? / Georgi Gospodinov Natural Novel / Kapka Kassabova Street Without a Name / Anton Donchev Time of Parting / Milen Ruskov Thrown into Nature
  • Burkina Faso Sarah Bouyain / Frédéric Pacéré Titinga / Nobert Zongo The Parachute Drop
  • Burundi Marie-Therese Toyi Weep Not, Refugee
  • Cambodia U Sam Oeur Crossing Three Wildernesses / Alice PungUnpolished Gem / Vaddey Ratner In the Shadow of the Banyan / Loung Ung / Haing S Ngor / Bree Lafreniere and Daran Kravanh Music Through Dark
  • Cameroon Mongo Beti La Pauvre Christ de Bomba (The Poor Christ of Bomba)Mission to Kala / Beatrice Fri Bime Mystique: a collection of lake myths
  • Canada Robertson Davis / Nicole Brossard Mauve Desert / Alice Munro / Lauren B Davis Our Daily Bread / Darcie Friesen Hossack Mennonites Don’t Dance / Anne Michaels Fugitive Pieces / Thomas King Green Grass, Running Water
  • Cape Verde Germano Almeida The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo
  • Central African Republic Bamboté Dada’s Travels from Ouadda to Bangui
  • Chad Joseph Brahim Seid Told by Starlight in Chad
  • Chile Roberto Bolano The Savage Detectives / Alejandro Zambra The Private Lives of TreesBonsai / Isabel Allende The House of the Spirits(trans. Magda Bodin) / Diamela Eltit / Alberto Fuguet / María Luisa Bombal / Luis Sepúlveda / Antonio Skármeta
  • China Zhu Wen I Love Dollars / Jian Rong Wolf Totem / Ma Jian Stick Out Your Tongue; Red Dust/ Cao Xuequin Dream of the Red Chamber / Wu Cheng’en Journey to the West / Zhang Yueran / Chan Koonchung The Fat Years (trans. Michael Duke) / Yan Lianke Dream of Ding Village / Mo YanThe Garlic BalladsShifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh / Zhu Wen / Zhang Yueran / Han Dong Banished! / Yan Ge / Xialou Guo Village of Stone / Mian Mian Candy / Wang Shuo Playing for Thrills / Chen Xiwo I Love My Mum / Xu Zechen / Xue Xinran The Good Women of ChinaChina WitnessMessage from an Unknown Chinese Mother
  • Colombia Evelio Rosero The Armies / Pilar Quintana Tickles in the Tongue / Juan Gabriel Vasquez The Informers / Eduardo Garcia Aguilar Boulevard of Heroes / Fernando Vallejo Our Lady of the Assassins / Hector Abad Faciolince / Laura Restrepo / Fernando Vallejo
  • Comoros Mohammed Toihiri The Kafir of Karthala
  • Congo, Democratic Republic of Amba Bongo /  Frederick Yamusangie Full Circle
  • Congo, Republic of Emmanuel Dongala Johnny Mad DogLittle Boys Come from the Stars / Sony Lab’ou Tansi The Antipeople
  • Costa Rica Anacristina Rossi / Carmen Naranjo / Oscar Nunez Olivas Cadence of the Moon / Anacristina Rossi The Madwoman of Gandoca / ed Barbara Ras Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion
  • Côte d’Ivoire Bernard Dadié Climbié / Ahmadou Kourouma Allah is not Obliged
  • Croatia Miroslav Krleža On the Edge of Reason / Dubravka Ugrĕsic The Ministry of Pain; In the Jaws of Life / Slavenka Drakulic A Guided Tour through the Museum of Communism
  • Cuba Mayra Montero Dancing to Almendra / Ena Lucia Portela One Hundred Bottles / Alejo Carpentier / Reinaldo Arenas / Antonio José Ponte / Leonardo Padura / Reinaldo Arenas / Leonardo Padura Fuentes / Virgilio Piñera / José Lezama Lima / Severo Sarduy /  Guillermo Cabrera Infante / Lydia Cabrera Afro-Cuban Tales
  • Cyprus Anna Marangou/Andreas Coutas (trans. Xenia Andreou)Famagusta: the Story of the City / Eve Makis / Christy Lefteri A Watermelon, a Fish and a Bible / Panos Ioannides Gregory and other stories / Elmos Konis Magnette / Nora Nadjarian Ledra Street
  • Czech Republic Bohumil Hrabal Too Loud a Solitude / Hana Demetz The House on Prague Street / Tomáš Zmeškal Love Letter in Cuneiform Script / Josef Škvorecký The Engineer of Human Souls (trans. Paul Wilson)
  • Denmark Jakob Ejersbo Exile: Book One of the African Trilogy / Morten Ramsland Dog Head / Christian Jungersen The Exception / Louise Bugge Laermann Constanze Mozart
  • Djibouti Abdourahman Waberi In the United States of AfricaPassage of Tears
  • Dominica Phyllis Shand Allfrey The Orchid House / Elma Napier Black and White Sands / Jean Rhys / Pupils of Atkinson School The Snake King of the Kalinago / Alick Lazare Pharcel / Various Home Again / Christborne Shillingford Most Wanted: street stories from the Caribbean
  • Dominican Republic Juan Bosch / Arambilet Neguri’s Secret / Junot DiazThe Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao / Pedro Mir When they Loved the Communal Land / Julia Alvarez 
  • East Timor Luis Cardoso The Crossing
  • Ecuador Jorge Icaza Huasipungo / Benjamin Carrion Cartas al Ecuador
  • Egypt Ahdaf Soueif The Map of LoveCairo: My City, Our Revolution / Sonallah Ibrahim Stealth / Mohamed Mansi Qandil Moon Over Samarqand / Waguih Ghali Beer in the Snooker Club / Naguib Mahfouz Midaq Alley; The Thief and the DogsMiramarThe Final Hour/ Alaa Al Aswany The Yacoubian Building / Radwa Ashour / Nawal El Saadawi / May TelmissanyDunyazad / Salwa Bakr / ed. Marilyn Booth My Grandmother’s Cactus / Gamal al-Ghitani Zayni Barakat / Yusef Zeidan Azazil / Radwa AshourGranada / Ibrahim Abdel Meguid No One Sleeps in Alexandria / Bahar Tahir / Muhammad Bisati
  • El Salvador Horacio Castellanos Moya Senselessness
  • Equatorial Guinea Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel / Donato Ndongo Shadows of your Black Memory / Maria Nsue Angue Ekomo
  • Eritrea Senait Mehari Heart of Fire / Sulaiman Addonia The Consequences of Love
  • Estonia Jaan Kross Professor Martens’ Departure; Treading Air / Sofi Oksanen Purge / Viivi Luik The Beauty of History
  • Ethiopia Maaza Mengiste Beneath the Lion’s Gaze / Dinaw MengestuChildren of the Revolution / Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone
  • Fiji Peter Thomson Kava in the Blood / Epeli Hau’ofa Kisses in the NederendsTales of the Tikongs / Mikaele M.K. Yasa Of Baluka and Nibong Palm
  • Finland Arto Paasilinna The Year of the Hare / Mika Waltari The Egyptian / Johanna Sinisalo Troll: A Love Story
  • France Alain-Fournier The Wanderer / Marie NDiaye Rosie Carpe / Marie Darrieussecq My Phantom Husband / Colette Chéri / Faiza Guene Dreams from the Endz / Raymond Queneau Exercises in Style (trans. Barbara Wright) / Georges Perec Life:a User’s Manual (trans. David Bellos) / Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio Wandering Star / Jean Echenoz Lightning/ Delphine de Vigan Underground Time / Faïza Guène Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow / Alexis Jenni The French Art of War / Laurence Cossé A Novel Bookstore / Hélène Grémillon The Confidant
  • Gabon Daniel Mengara Mema
  • The Gambia Dayo Forster Reading the Ceiling / Dembo Fanta Bojang & Sukai Mbye Bojang Folk Tales and Fables from The Gambia
  • Georgia Sana Krasikov One More Year / ed Elizabeth Heighway Contemporary Georgian Fiction
  • Germany Jenny Erpenbeck Visitation / Günter Grass The Tin Drum / Christa Wolf / Heinrich Böll The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum / Emine Sevgi Özdamar Bridge of the Golden Horn / Walter Benjamin Illuminations (trans. Harry Zohn) / Clemens Meyer All the Lights / Christa Wolf Medea / Franz Fühmann / Inka Parei The Shadow-Boxing Girl / Hans Fallada Alone in Berlin / Jurek Becker Jacob the Liar / Herman Hesse Siddhartha
  • Ghana Ayi Kwei Armah The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born / Isaac Neequaye / Ama Ata Aidoo / Jo de Graft Hanson Amanfi’s Gold / Gheysika Adombire Agambila Journey / Various Anansi Stories
  • Greece Kostas Hatziantoniou The Black Book of BileAgrigento / Margarita Karapanou Kassandra and the Wolf / Panos Karnezis
  • Grenada Tobias Buckell / Merle Collins The Ladies are Upstairs
  • Guatemala Miguel Angel Asturias The President / Rodrigo Rey Rosa
  • Guinea Camara Laye The Radiance of the KingThe Guardian of the Word
  • Guinea Bissau Amilcar Cabral Unity and Struggle
  • Guyana Oonya Kempadoo Buxton Spice
  • Haiti Marvin Victor / Lyonel Trouillot Children of Heroes / Dany LaferriereHow to Make Love to a Negro without Getting TiredI am a Japanese Writer/ Louis-Philppe Dalembert / Edwidge Danticat The Farming of the Bones / Franketienne / Gary Klang / Josaphat-Robert Large
  • Honduras Augusto Monterroso / Guillermo Yuscaran / Ramón Amaya Amador
  • Hungary Sándor Márai Embers / Dezső Kosztolányi Skylark / Zsigmond Móricz Be Faithful Unto Death / Antal Szerb Journey by Moonlight / Peter Esterharzy Not Art / Tibor Fischer Under the Frog / Antal Szerb The Pendragon Legend / László Krasznahorkai War and War (trans. George Szirtes) / Ferenc Karinthy Metropole /  Imre Kertész Fatelessness
  • Iceland Arnaldur Indridason Jar City / Halldór Laxness The Atom Station / Ófeigur Sigurðsson / Gyrðir Eliasson Stone Tree / Auður A Ólafsdóttir The Greenhouse
  • India Suketu Mehta Maximum City / Rohinton Mistry Family MattersA Fine Balance / Premchand / Rahul Bhattacharya The Sly Company of People who Care / Amitav Ghosh River of Smoke / Tabish Khair The Thing about Thugs / Aman Sathi A Free Man / Sunetra Gupta / Omair Ahmad Jimmy the Terrorist / UR Ananthamurthy Bharathipura / Chandrakanta A Street in Srinagar / Siddharth Chowdhury Day Scholar / Kishwar Desai Witness the Night / Namita Devidayal Aftertaste / Manu Joseph Serious Men / Kavery Nambisan: The Story that Must Not Be Told / Kalpish Ratna The Quarantine Papers / Uppamanyu Chattergee Way to go / Chandrahas Choudhury Arzee the Dwarf / Manju Kapur The Immigrant / Neel MukherjeeThe Immigrant / Mani Sankar Mukherji The Middleman / I. Allan Sealy The Trotter Nama / Shashi Warrier / Aniruddha Bahal /  Vikram Chandra /  M T Vasudevan Nair MistThe LegacyThe Demon SeedSecond Turn / Asha Poorna Devi / Ruskin Bond / Gurcharan Das India Unbound / Mark Tully / Shashi Tharoor The Great Indian Novel / Mahasweta Devi  Imaginary MapsBitter SoilHajar Churashir Maa / RK Narayan Malgudi Days / Jhaverchand Meghani / Kushwant Singh Train to Pakistan; The Portrait of a Lady / ed Rakesh Khanna The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction / Shivaji Sawant Mrityunjay / OV Vijayan / Govardhanram TripathiSaraswatichandra / Satyajit Ray Feluda series
  • Indonesia Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya Durga Umayi / Ayu Utami / Mochtar Lubis
  • Iran Akbar Golrang Parpin Flowers /Nasrin Alavi We are Iran / Shahrnush Parsipur Touba and the Meaning of Night / Mahmoud Dowlatabadi The Colonel (trans. Tom Patterdale) / Adnan-Ahmed
  • Iraq Samuel Shimon An Iraqi in Paris / Ali Bader The Tobacco Keeper / Hassan Blasim The Madman of Freedom Square / Rodaan Al Galidi Thirsty River / Samira Al-Mana / Wafaa Abed Al Razzaq / A Alwan The Sheikh’s Detective / Fuad al-Takarli The Long Way Back
  • Ireland James Joyce Ulysses / Maria Edgeworth Castle Rackrent / William Trevor / Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture / Flann O’Brien The Third Policeman
  • Israel David Grossman Falling Out of TimeTo the End of the Land / Amos Oz A Tale of Love and Darkness (trans. Nicholas de Lange) / Savyon Liebrecht / AB Yehoshua / Ronit Matalon / Alex Epstein / Aharon AppelfeldBlooms of Darkness / Sara Shilo The Falafel King is Dead
  • Italy Roberto Saviano Gomorrah /  Leonardo Sciascia The Day of the Owl(trans. Archibald Colquhoun) / Fabio Geda In the Sea there are Crocodiles(trans. Howard Curtis) / Elena Ferrante The Lost Daughter / Antonio Tabucchi Pereira Maintains / Diego Marani New Finnish Grammar
  • Jamaica Kei Miller / Lindsay Barrett / Margaret Cezair-Thompson The Pirate’s Daughter / Colin Channer / Brian Meeks Paint the Town Red / Patricia Powell / Victor Stafford Reid / Vanessa Spence / Marlon James John Crow’s Devil
  • Japan Haruki Murakami Kafka on the Shore1Q84 / Natsume Sōseki TheMiner; I am a Cat/ Michitsuna no Haha (Michitsuna’s mother) The Kagero Diary (trans. Sonja Arntzen) / Yukio Mishima Death in Midsummer (trans. Seidensticker, Keene, Morris, Sargent) / Hiromi Kawakami Manazuru/ Shiba Ryotaro / Yoko Ogawa / Yoriko Shono / Yumiko Kurahashi / Yoko Tawada
  • Jordan Ibrahim Nasrallah The Time of White Horses
  • Kazakhstan Rollan Seisenbayev The Day the World Collapsed / Mukhamet Shayakhmetov The Silent Steppe: The Story of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin / Nursultan Nazarbayev My Life, My Times and the Future / Ilyas Esenberlin Nomads
  • Kenya Binyavanga Wainaina One Day I Will Write About This Place / Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o A Grain of WheatWizard of the Crow / Philo Ikonya Kenya, Will You Marry Me?
  • Kiribati Teweiariki Teaero Waa in Storms
  • Kuwait Saif Marzooq al-Shamlan Pearling in the Arabian Gulf / Jehan S Rajab Invasion Kuwait / Haya al-Mughni Women in Kuwait / Danderma The Chronicles of Dathra, a Dowdy Girl from Kuwait
  • Kyrgyzstan Chinghiz Aimatov JamiliaThe Place of the Skull
  • Laos Outhine Bounyavong Mother’s Beloved
  • Latvia David Bezmozgis The Free World / Agate Nesaule A Woman in Amber / Inga Zolude A Solace for Adam’s Tree / Sandra Kalniete With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows
  • Lebanon Joumana Haddad I Killed Scheherazade  / Elias Khoury YaloGate of the Sun / Hanan al-Shaykh One Thousand and One NightsThe Locust and the Bird / Jabbour Douhaiy June Rain / Alexandra Chreiteh Always Coca-Cola / Iman Humaydan Wild Mulberries / Amin Maalouf Samarkand;Leo the African / Rashid al-Daif Dear Mr Kawabata / Amin al Rihani
  • Lesotho Thomas Mofolo Chaka / AS Mopeli-Paulus Blanket Boy’s MoonThe World and the Cattle / Morabo Morojele How We Buried Puso / Various Basali! Stories by and about women in Lesotho
  • Liberia Helene Cooper The House at Sugar Beach / Ellen Johnson SirleafThis Child Will Be Great / Mardia Stone Konkai: Living Between Two Worlds
  • Libya Hisham Matar In the Country of Men; Anatomy of a Disappearance / Ibrahim Al-Khoni Anubius: A Desert Novel; Gold Dust; The AnimistsThe Bleeding of the StoneThe PuppetThe Seven Veils of Seth / Ahmed FagiHomeless Rats; 30 Short Stories
  • Liechtenstein Iren Nigg / Stefan Sprenger / Heinrich Harrer Seven Years in Tibet / CC Bergius The Noble Forger
  • Lithuania Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė / Various No Men, No Cry (‘Collective Series’) / Ricardas Gavelis Vilnius Poker / Jonas Mekas / Juozas Baltusis
  • Luxembourg Jean Back Amateur / Robi Gottlieb-Cahen Minute Stories
  • Macedonia Rumena Bužarovska ScribblesWisdom Tooth / Goce SmilevskiSigmund Freud’s Sister; Conversation with Spinoza/ Elizabeta Bakovska On the way to Damascus
  • Madagascar ed. Jacques Bourgeacq and Liliane Ramarosoa Voices from Madagascar
  • Malawi Samson Kambalu The Jive Talker / Aubrey Kachingwe No Easy Task
  • Malaysia Shih-Li Kow Ripples and Other Stories
  • Maldives Abdullah Sadiq Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu
  • Mali Amadou Hampâté Bâ The Strange Destiny of Wangrin / Yambo Ouloguem Bound to Violence
  • Malta Immanuel Mifsud Happy Weekend / Pierre Mejlak / Simon Bartolo
  • Marshall Islands Ed Daniel Kelin Marshall Islands Legends and Stories / Marshallese school students (the Unbound Bookmaker Project) The Important Book about Majuro / Jack Niedenthal For the Good of Mankind / Bob Barclay In Melal: A Novel of the Pacific / Dirk R Spennemann Bwebwenatoon etto: a collection of Marshallese legends and traditions
  • Mauritania Mohamed Bouya Bamba Angels of Mauritania and the Curse of the Language
  • Mauritius Anand Mulloo Watch Them Go Down / Barlen Pyamootoo Benares
  • Mexico Juan Pablo Villalobos Down the Rabbit Hole / Octavio Paz The Labyrinth of Solitude (trans. Lysander Kemp) / Laura Esquivel Like Water for Chocolate (trans. Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen) / Martín Solares The Black Minutes / Carlos Fuentes / Jorge Volpi / Rosario Castellanos / Carmen Boullosa / Sandra Cisneros / Mario Bellatín / Elena Garro / Juan Rulfo / Elena Poniatowska / Sergio Pitol / Juan Rulfo Pedro Paramo
  • Micronesia, Federated States of Luelen Bernart The Book of Luelen
  • Moldova Ion Drutse Moldavian AutumnThe Story of an Ant
  • Monaco Apollinaire
  • Mongolia Galsan Tschinag The Blue Sky
  • Montenegro Petar II Petrović-Njegoš The Mountain Wreath / Andrej Nikolaidis / Xenia Popovich A Lullaby for No Man’s Wolf 
  • Morocco Diss Chraïbi Heirs to the PastLe Passé Simple (The Simple Past) / Tahar Ben Jelloun The Sacred NightThis Blinding Absence of Light (trans. Linda Coverdale); A Palace in the Old Village (trans. Linda Coverdale) / Bensalem Himmich The Polymath / Mohammed Achaari The Arch and the Butterfly / Fatima Mernissi / Muhammad Shukri For Bread Alone / Muhammad Barrada The Game of Forgetting
  • Mozambique Mia Couto The Sleepwalking LandUnder the Frangipani / Paulina Chiziane Niketche / Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa Ualalapi / Luis Bernardo Honwana We Killed Mangy Dog
  • Myanmar Cho Tu Zaw / Ma Thida / Nu Nu Yi Inwa Smile as they Bow
  • Namibia Joseph Diescho Troubled Waters / Neshani Andreas The Purple Violet of Oshaantu
  • Nauru Timothy Detudamo Legends, Traditions and Tales of Nauru
  • Nepal Samrat Upadhyay Buddha’s Orphans / Ajit Baral The Lazy Conman and Other Stories
  • Netherlands Harry Mulisch The Discovery of Heaven / Cees Noteboom Lost Paradise / Tessa de Loo / Gerbrand Bakker The Twin / Kader Abdolah The House of the Mosque / Abdelkader Benali / Jan van Mersbergen Tomorrow Pamplona / Arthur Japin The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi / Tommy Wieringa Little Caesar / Bernlef Out of Mind / Jan Wolkers Turkish Delight 
  • New Zealand Charlotte Grimshaw Singularity / Maurice Shadbolt Season of the Jew / Keri Hulme The Bone People / Lloyd Jones Mr Pip / Alan Duff Once Were Warriors / Witi Ihimaera Tangi / Janet Frame
  • Nicaragua Gioconda Belli Infinity in the Palm of her Hand
  • Niger recounted by Nouhou Malio The Epic of Askia Mohammed
  • Nigeria Wole Soyinka The Interpreters / Wole Soyinka Season of Anomy / Toyin Falola A Mouth Sweeter than Salt / Lola Shoneyin The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
  • North Korea Ri In Mo My Life and Faith Kye Wol Hyang
  • Norway Karl Ove Knausgaard My Struggle / Per Petterson To SiberiaOut Stealing Horses (trans. Ann Born) / Knut Hamsun Hunger / Lars Saabye Christensen The Half Brother
  • Oman Ibrahim Farghali Smiles of Saints / Khadija bint Alawi Al-Dhahab My Grandmother’s Stories / Unni Wikan Behind the Veil in Arabia: Women in Oman
  • Pakistan Mohsin Hamid Moth SmokeThe Reluctant Fundamentalist / Sara Suleri Meatless Days / Bapsi Sidhwa Ice Candy Man / Bina Shah A Season for MartyrsSlum Child / Jamil Ahmad The Wandering Falcon / Daniyal Mueenuddin In Other Rooms, Other Wonders / HM Naqvi Home Boy / Uzma Aslam Khan / Musharraf Ali Farooqi The Story of a Widow; Between Clay and Dust / Ali Sethi The Wish Maker / Kamila Shamsie KartographyBroken Verses / Mohammed Hanif
  • Palau Susan Kloulechad Spirits’ Tides
  • Palestine Ibtisam Barakat Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood / Sahar Khalifeh Wild Thorns / Susan Abulhawa Mornings in Jenin / Mahmoud Shukair Mordechai’s Moustache and his Wife’s Cats, and other stories
  • Panama Juan David Morgan The Golden Horse / Carlos Russell
  • Papua New Guinea Russell Soaba Maiba / Regis Stella Gutsini Posa / Russell Soaba Maiba / Bernard Narokobi Two Seasons / Vincent Eri The Crocodile / Nash Sorariba / Michael Somare Sana /
  • Paraguay  Augusto Roa Bastos The Prosecutor
  • Peru Mario Vargas Llosa Death in the AndesAunt Julia and the Scriptwriter(trans. Ursule Molinaro, Hedwig Rappolt) / Jaime Bayly / José María Arguedas / Santiago Roncagliolo
  • Philippines Charlson Ong / Joel Toledo / Miguel Syjuco Illustrado / F Sionil José / Jessica Hagedorn Dogeaters
  • Poland Stanislaw Lem / Olga Tokarczuk Primeval and Other TimesHouse of Day, House of Night / Pawel Huelle Cold Sea TalesCastorpThe Last SupperMercedes Benz/ Zygmunt Miloszewski EntanglementA Grain of Truth/ Witold Gombrowicz Pornografia / Wiesław Myśliwski Stone upon Stone / Magdalena Tulli In Red / Dorota Maslowska Snow White and Russian Red / Marek Krajewski The Eberhard Mock books / Grazyna Plebanek Illegal Liaisons / Antoni Libera Madame / Andrzej Stasiuk On the Road to BabadagDuklaFadoNineWhite Raven / Stefan Chwin Death in Danzig / Michal Witkowski Lovetown / Jacek Hugo-Bader White Fever / Wojciech Jagielski The Night Wanderers / Kazimierz Moczarski Conversations with an Executioner
  • Portugal Eca de Queiroz The Mandarin and Other Stories / José SaramagoBlindnessThe Year of the Death of Ricardo ReisThe Gospel According to Jesus Christ
  • Qatar Mohammed Ali Victory over Abu Derya: The Quest for Pearls in the Arabian Gulf
  • Romania Herta Muller The Passport / Filip and Matei Florian The Baiut Alley Lads / Mircea Cartarescu / Mircea Eliade
  • Russia Alina Bronsky The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine / Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (trans. Ralph Parker) / Vladimir Sorokin Day of the Oprichnik / Mikhail Lermontov A Hero of Our Time / Mikhail Bulgakov The Master and Margarita (trans. Michael Glenny) / Roman Senchin MINUS / Alan Cherchesov Requiem for the Living /Off the Beaten Tracks: Stories by Russian Hitchhikers / Oleg ZaionchkovskiHappiness is Possible
  • Rwanda Philip Gourevitch We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families / Jean Hatzfeld Into the Quick of Life / Barassa Teta / John Rusimbi By the Time She Returned
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis Caryl Phillips / Bertram Roach Only God Can Make a Tree
  • Saint Lucia Derek Walcott Omeros / Garth St Omer A Room on the HillShades of GreyNor Any CountryJ-, Black Bam and the Masqueraders / Dr Earl Long ConsolationVoices from a Drum / McDonald Dixon Season of Mist / Michael Aubertin Neg Maron
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines H Nigel Thomas Spirits in the DarkBehind the Face of WinterReturn to Arcadia / George Thomas Ruler in Hairoona / Cecil Browne The Moon is Following Me / Richard Byron-Cox Were Mama’s Tears in Vain? / Marcia King-Gamble / Trish St Hill /  Nickie Williams /
  • Samoa Misa Telefoni Retzlaff Love and Money / Lani Wendt Young Telesa/ Albert Wendt The Adventures of VelaSons for the Return HomePouliuli / Sia Figiel Where We Once BelongedThe Girl in the Moon CircleThey Who do not Grieve
  • San Marino Giuseppe Rossi The Republic of San Marino
  • Sao Tome and Principe Olinda Beja The Shepherd’s House
  • Saudi Arabia Rajaa Al-Sanea Girls of Riyadh / Raja Alem My Thousand and One Nights: A Novel of Mecca / Abdul Rahman Munif EndingsCities of SaltThe TrenchVariations on Night and Day / ed. Abubaker Bagader Voices of Change
  • Senegal Mariama Bâ Une Si Longue Lettre (So Long a Letter) / Ken BugulRiwan ou Le Chemin de Sable (Riwan or The Path of Sand)
  • Serbia Ivo Andric Bridge in the River Drina / Milos Crnjanski A Novel About LondonMigrations / Danilo Kiš / David Albahari Bait / Milorad PavicDictionary of the Khazars / Srdjan Valjarevic Lake Como / Zoran Živković
  • Seychelles Glynn Burridge Voices / William Travis Beyond the ReefsShark for Sale
  • Sierra Leone Aminatta Forna The Memory of Love / Ishmael Beah A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of  Boy Soldier
  • Singapore Su-Chen Christine Lim Fistful of Colours
  • Slovakia Pavol Rankov / Peter Pistanek Rivers of Babylon / Daniela Kapitánová Samko Tale’s Cemetery Book
  • Slovenia Slavoj Žižek / Nataša Kramberger Heaven in a Blackberry Bush, a Novel in Stories / Andrej Blatnik You do Understand / Andrej Skubic Fužine Blues / Miha Mazzini The German Lottery
  • Solomon Islands John Saunana The Alternative / ed. Alice Aruhe’eta Pollard and Marilyn J. Waring Being the First: Storis Blong Oloketa Mere lo Solomon Aelan
  • Somalia Nuruddin Farah SecretsSweet and Sour Milk
  • South Africa Gavin Evans Dancing Shoes is Dead / Ingrid Winterbach The Book of Happenstance / Damon Galgut The Quarry / Kgebetli Moele The Book of the Dead / Diane Awerbuck Cabin Fever / Siphiwo Mahala African Delights / Henrietta Rose-Innes Nineveh / Ivan Vladislavic The Loss Library
  • South Korea Hwang Sok-yong The GuestThe Old Garden / Lee Hye-Kyung A House on the Road / Shin Kyung-Sook Please Look After Mom
  • South Sudan Julia Duany ‘To Forgive is Divine not Human’
  • Spain Miguel Delibes Five Hours with Mario / Javier Cercas Soldiers of SalamisThe Anatomy of a Moment (trans. Anne McClean) / Alberto Mendez The Blind Sunflowers / Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote (trans. Edith Grossman) / Carlos Ruiz Zafon The Shadow of the Wind /  Enrique Vila-Matas Dublinesque / Juan Goytisolo Exiled from Almost Everywhere
  • Sri Lanka Romesh Gunesekera Reef / Carl Muller The Jam Fruit Tree / Shehan Karunatilaka Chinaman / Ru Freeman A Disobedient Girl / Siri Gunasinghe The Shadow / Kathleen Jayawardena Circles of Fire / S Ponnuthurai Ritual / Sunethra Rajakarunanayake Metta / Keerthi Welisarage The Doomed
  • Sudan Amir Tag Elsir The Grub Hunter / Tarek Eltayeb The Palm House / Tayeb Salih Season of Migration to the North / Leila Aboulela Minaret
  • Suriname Cynthia Mcleod The Cost of SugarThe Free Negress
  • Swaziland  Sarah Mkhonza Weeding the Flowerbeds
  • Sweden Henning Mankell Chronicler of the Winds / Per Olov Enquist The March of the Musicians (trans. Joan Tate); The Story of Blanche and Marie / Jens Lapidus Easy Money / Karin Altenberg Island of Wings / Jonas Hassen Khemiri Montecore / / Hjalmar Soderberg Doctor Glas / Lotta Lotass / Amelie Posse / John Ajvide Lindqvist Let the Right One In
  • Switzerland Friedrich Dürrenmatt The Pledge / Hansjörg Schertenlieb A Happy Man / Gottfried Keller A Village Romeo and Juliet / Annemarie Schwarzenbach / Friedrich Glauser In Matto’s Realm / Peter Bichsel Children’s Stories / Aglaja Veteranyi Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta / Hugo Loetscher Noah / Gerhard Meier Isle of the Dead 
  • Syria Fadi Azzam Sarmada / Zakaria Tamer Breaking Knees / Ghadda Samman / Rafik Schami Damascus Nights / Hassan Bahri / Hanna Mina Sun on a Cloudy Day / Khaled Khalifa In Praise of Hatred
  • Taiwan Su Wei-chen / Pai Hsien-yung Crystal Boys
  • Tajikistan Andrei Volos Hurramabad
  • Tanzania Muhammed Said Abdulla / Abdulrazak Gurnah Desertion / Edwin Semzaba / Ismael Mbise Blood on Our Land / Agoro Anduru / Adam Shafi / Bethsaida Orphan Girls’ Secondary School Their Voices, Their Stories / Sophia Mustafa Broken Reed / Tengio Urrio The Girl from Uganda / S Ndunguru The Lion of Yola
  • Thailand Chart Korbjitti The JudgementNo Way OutTimeMad Dogs & Co
  • Togo Jeanette D Ahonsou / Pyabelo Chaold Kouly / Tété-Michel KpomassieAn African in Greenland
  • Tonga Joshua Taumoefolau A Providence of War
  • Trinidad and Tobago VS Naipaul A House for Mr BiswasIn a Free State / Monique Roffey The White Woman on the Green Bicycle / Robert Antoni / Keith Jardim Near Open Water / Earl Lovelace Is Just a Movie / Vahni Capildeo One Scattered Skeleton / Errol John Moon on a Rainbow Shawl
  • Tunisia Habib Selmi The Scents of Marie-Claire / Abdelwahab Meddeb Talismano / Hassouna Mosbahi A Tunisian Tale /
  • Turkey Orhan Pamuk Snow / Latife Tekin Dear Shameless Death / Elif Shafak The Forty Rules of Love / Erendiz Atasu The Other Side of the Mountain / Murathan Mungan
  • Turkmenistan John Kropf Unknown Sands / Ak Welsapar The Tale of Aypi;Cobra
  • Tuvalu Various Tuvalu: a history
  • Uganda Okot p’Bitek Song of Lawino / Moses Isegawa Abyssinian ChroniclesSnakepit
  • Ukraine Andrey Kurkov Death and the Penguin / Theodore Odrach Wave of Terror 
  • United Arab Emirates Qais Sedki Gold Ring / Maha Gargash The Sand Fish / Ameera Al Hakawati Desperate in Dubai / Mohammad Al Murr The Wink of the Mona Lisa; Dubai Tales
  • United Kingdom Angus MacLellan Stories from South Uist / Christina HallTo the Edge of the Sea / Deborah Levy Swimming Home / Siân Melangell Dafydd Y Trydydd Peth / Vanessa Gebbie / Caryl Lewis Martha, Jack and Shanco
  • United States of America Neil Gaiman American Gods / Sean Murphy The Time of New Weather / Norton Juster The Phantom Tollbooth / Michael Shaara The Killer Angels / Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible / Cormac Mccarthy All the Pretty Horses / Eliot Weinberger
  • Uruguay Juan Carlos Onetti The Shipyard / Felisberto Hernández Lands of Memory / Rafael Courtoisie / Cristina Peri Rossi /Eduardo Galeano / Mario Benedetti / Horacio Quiroga The Decapitated Chicken
  • Uzbekistan Sabit Madaliev / Hamid Ismailov The Railway
  • Vanuatu Sethy Regenvau Laef Blong Mi: From Village to Nation
  • Vatican City Luigi Marinello & The Millenari Shroud of Secrecy or Gone with the Wind in the Vatican
  • Venezuela Francisco Suniaga / Alberto Barrera Tyszka The Sickness / Ana Teresa Torres / Romulo Gallegos / Federico Vegas Falke
  • Vietnam Pan Hon Nien The JokerCold EyesLeft Wing / Bao Ninh The Sorrow of War (trans. Frank Palmos, Phan Thanh Hao)
  • Yemen Wajdi al-Ahdal A Land without Jasmine / Zayd Mutee’ Dammaj The Hostage
  • Zambia Gaile Parkin Baking Cakes in Kigali / Field Ruwe / Binwell Sinyangwe A Cowrie of Hope
  • Zimbabwe Petinah Gappah An Elegy for Easterly / Tsitsi DangarembgaNervous Conditions / Brian Chikwava Harare North / Tendai Huchu The Hairdresser of Harare / Shimmer Chinodya Chioniso and Other Stories / Stephen Lungu Out of the Black Shadows

Monday 17 December 2012

Adaptable Kent: C12th murder becomes C21st tourism

A blog to think about, possibly over a mulled cider at the Thomas Becket pub.

Altar of the Swordpoint. I'm not sure if I was allowed to take this, but didn't use flash...

Beautiful Canterbury Cathedral - the shed to the right is a life-size nativity scene.

Old London plane tree frames the view of Canterbury Cathedral.
This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post is about how horror can turn into a tourism must (given time) using a rather famous example from Medieval Kent. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  

Thomas a Becket was the ultimate party animal until his friend Henry II gave him the top Church job at Canterbury in Kent. He then turned into rather a boring, perhaps (whisper it) sanctimonious sackcloth-bloke... or so Henry II thought.

Actually Becket wasn't even a priest until 2 June 1162. A month later he was the Archbishop of Canterbury - hardly a career priest. Thanks to my scattergun knowledge of history and T S Eliot's verse play Murder in the Cathedral we all know a bit about "St" Thomas a Becket. It's a shocking story - Becket fearing the King's displeasure took "sanctuary" in Canterbury Cathedral, then a very sensible precaution which usually saved you your life. Unfortunately four of the king's more brute knights rode their horses into this astonishingly beautiful building and hacked Thomas to death. Although Henry VIII destroyed the first shrine to his memory, Ii's easy to find the spot in the cathedral that so many pilgrims have headed towards (that's where they were going in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales) as it's now by the Martyrdom Chapel, with an altar that seems to have a fearful collection of sculptural weapons above (the Altar of the Swordpoint).

Thomas a Becket was murdered on 29 December 1170. He was Catholic. Did services in Latin. But despite being a Medieval celebrity it's quite possible that he'd recognise the services still crowded-out at Canterbury Cathedral today... the ritual, the splendour of the gowns, the high Church choir and the knock-em-dead 's building. Strangely the Cathedral's interior is probably the one thing he wouldn't recognise (so said the lovely lady in a red coat who I used as my primary source this weekend at the cathedral), but practically anyone in the Cathedral could lead you to the spot he died thanks to the tourist signage.

Recently I've taken considerable pleasure in trying to imagine conversations with historical big names - quizzing them to find out if they'd recognise the rituals, ceremonies and culture that we all know. It's a good game.

If you're interested in thinking about this yourself you could even go to Canterbury Cathedral for the annual 29 December memorial which involves a mix of Latin-read service and theatricals. This year (2012) the 3.15pm Saturday evensong includes a procession to the Altar of the Swordpoint...

Here's the story as remembered by Canterbury Cathedral website:

Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?

The best known event in the Cathedral's history was the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170. Canterbury, always on the medieval pilgrim route to Rome, became an end in itself, as thousands came to worship at Becket's tomb, especially after his canonization in 1173. Geoffrey Chaucer's pilgrims in his poem, The Canterbury Tales, were by no means unique. They represented the hundreds of thousands who travelled to the Cathedral to pray, repent or be healed at his shrine. (The word canter comes from the pace of the pilgrims' horses as they rode to the Cathedral.) The tradition of pilgrimage is very much alive today, although the journey is faster and considerably more comfortable. Thomas' shrine was destroyed in 1538 on the orders of King Henry VIII; today, a simple candle marks the place where it once stood and the pink stone before it bears the imprint of thousands of pilgrims' knees.
When Becket was made Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry II in 1162, he changed his total allegiance from the King to the Pope and the Church.
Henry had expected his full support, and there were many conflicts between them, the final one being Thomas' excommunication of the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of London and Salisbury for their support for Henry's attacks on the rights of Thomas as archbishop; not only had the king’s agents used Thomas’ property while he was in exile in France but, in the summer of 1170, King Henry had his son crowned as his heir by these and other bishops, usurping a long standing right of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Four knights, Richard Brito, Hugh de Moreville, Reginald FitzUrse, and William de Tracy overheard the King's rage and took seriously his shout of "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" On 29 December 1170, returning from France where Henry had held his Christmas Court, they entered the Archbishop’s lodgings from Palace Street; the monks persuaded Thomas to enter the Cathedral from his Palace through the Cloisters and into the North West Transept. Vespers was in progress when the knights burst in, and found Thomas kneeling at the altar. According to Edward Grim, a monk who watched the murder, Thomas refused to absolve the Bishops and told the Knights that "for the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death."
It was not long before he did so. The knights wielded their weapons and administered three mighty blows, the last one breaking off the tip of a sword. Three days after his death, there began a series of miracles attached to his martyrdom. These are depicted in the miracle windows of the Trinity Chapel.
In 1173, Becket was canonized by Pope Alexander III. Pilgrims began to flock to Thomas' shrine in the Cathedral; a year later Henry, in sackcloth, walking barefoot, was among them.

Over to you
I hate rubbernecking - the idea of it anyway - where you go to a place that's seen a tragedy, and goggle, or pay your respects - but when such a spot has been "cleansed" by a big chunk of time, then I seem drawn to them (eg, Tower of London for all those executions...). Do you have the same double standard reflected between daily life and holiday/time-off tourist life? I added a photo of the Thomas Becket pub in a nearby Canterbury backstreet - as that's the obvious place to retire and discuss life choice inconsistencies.

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Rubbish music from Paraguay

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post is one of the first inspired by a forwarded email, but who'd have thought Ode to Joy could sound so good on a violin or cello chucked away in Paraguay, then repaired with old cement sacks and given a new, teen owner? Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  

Music is an international language. Everyone knows this truism, but I felt real excitement when a friend sent over an email vimeo link to the Recycled Orchestra. This stars the most amazing set of teenagers who live in a truly horrible slum on a massive landfill site in Paraguay. There, families earn a living by picking over the rubbish (this isn't glamorous skip diving in a hygenic-ish Tesco's waste bin, it's a totally massive, vile site) and selling what they can recycle. One day a man found the shell of a violin... and decided to try and restore it. The result is a violin with a base that looks like it's made from a stuffed plastic rice sack, or maybe a cement bag. But it makes gorgeous sounds.

As the instruments were built, an orchestra was started... Look at this short video to see the kids of the Recycled Orchestra in action, http://vimeo.com/52711779

A film documentary about the 30-piece orchestra, which seems to have taken the kids a long way from the landfill as they have now played on their fixed up, ingenius instruments in Argentina, Germany and the United States is promised soon, called the Landfill Harmonic. What a way to be inspired to fix stuff up, mend broken bits and generally get creative after seeing even this short trailer. Until then, here's their Facebook page to like, http://www.facebook.com/landfillharmonicmovie

Actual movie information (taken from their advance trailer) is:
by  pro Cateura, Paraguay is a town essentially built on top of a landfill. Garbage collectors browse the trash for sellable goods, and children are often at risk of getting involved with drugs and gangs. When orchestra director Szaran and music teacher Favio set up a music program for the kids of Cateura, they soon have more students than they have instruments. That changed when Szaran and Favio were brought something they had never seen before: a violin made out of garbage. Today, there's an entire orchestra of assembled instruments, now called The Recycled Orchestra.
Directed & Produced by: Juliana Penaranda-Loftus
Co-Director & Executive Producer: Alejandra Nash
Executive Producer: Rodolfo Madero
Co-Producer: Jorge Maldonado
Editors: Jorge Maldonado, Jaime Arze, Roberto Duarte
Director of Photography: Tim Fabrizio
Sound: Josue Farina
Consulting Producer: Monica Barrios
Consulting Producer: Helen Hood Scheer
Field Producer: Gisella Duarte

Over to you
Have you ever fixed up an instrument and got it to play? Or are you the sort of person who is always drumming (without the kit/steel pans etc)? Or have you ever passed on (sold or binned) an instrument that a part of you wishes you hadn't... For more info about why we need less, and to do more with what we have see George Monbiot, here.