Alan Smith

Travels with a Teakwood Desk: Fleeting Memories, Solid Facts

Buch

On arrival in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1969 with his wife and young daughter, Alan Smith, a twenty-eight-year-old research student, was shaken by the pervasive presence of armed military in the airport, at the same time enchanted by the warm, clove-scented air. In a captivating retelling of his personal experiences, Alan, turning seventy, begins writing to share his insight into a life full of joy and pain, struggles with sexual identity, and sharing the frustrations of ethnic people and their quest for self-determination. Alan grapples with his memories of his own path through life as he learned to acknowledge and accept his true self. He in… Mehr

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Produktdetails

ISBN: 978-1-982291-36-5
EAN: 9781982291365
Produktnummer: 37238688
Verlag: Balboa Pr Au
Sprache: Englisch
Erscheinungsjahr: 2021
Seitenangabe: 302 S.
Masse: H20.3 cm x B12.7 cm x D1.6 cm 326 g
Gewicht: 326

Über den Autor

Alan Smith's first novel was published just before his fiftieth birthday. ' I was one of those people who always intended to write a novel but went to the pub instead. It finally dawned on me that being a writer might entail actually doing some writing and so I resolved to write a page a day. Any fool, me for instance, can write a page a day.' The publication of this novel, Big Soft Lads, and a second, What About Me, liberated Alan from school teaching and lead him into journalism, university and prison.His part time job teaching philosophy in prison came along at the same time that The University of Northampton offered him a job teaching Creative Writing and The Guardian began publishing his articles about prison. This split three ways part time life went on for fifteen years. 'It suited me down to the ground, I was never taken over by any one of the jobs and I was never really a part of things. I could drop in and take a good look at things, take notes and write about it. Being a nosey outsider is what, I discovered, I really liked being and just the best way for me to be a writer.'Alan was born in Sheffield into a family of steelworkers. He went to the Central Technical School in Sheffield where he spent several years in the machine shop, drawing office and foundry. 'They also gave us a good academic education and because of this I went to the University of York to study philosophy. It was the late sixties and some of my recollections are a little confused. Fifty years later I came back to live in York to be near my daughter and her family.'Having a book published means that a writer has to be involved in publicity and sales. 'I discovered how much I enjoy showing off and being at the centre of attention. An American colleague took me to one side and gave me a scolding. English diffidence, she said, we don't want any of that crap. I never looked back.