Oh lord, please bear my soul...
So I've been working my ass out for publishing Gibb's event next Saturday uhuk all fingers crossed for the success. No luck in finding the speakers and so everyone's gonna have to put up to once again seeing me MC-ing another Periplus' event *sigh*
But do please come, as this is such a very rare event where a well-acknowledged author could visit Indonesia and sign your book, you can even directly ask any questions you have regarding the book or Camilla herself.

SEE YA THERE!

Here are the details:
Periplus in collaboration with the Canadian Embassy will be hosting Ms. Camilla Gibb's visit to Jakarta for her recent book – Sweetness in the Belly. We cordially invite you to join this meet & greet along with a book signing event which will be taking place on:

Day & date : Saturday, March 24, 2007

Time : 2 pm – onwards

Venue : Periplus Bookshop – Kemang

Jl. Kemang Selatan 1 (Kompleks Hero Kemang)

On her latest work, Camilla presents such an enchanting story of Lilly’s personal journey conflicting between two worlds; a book closely related to women and culture issues.

Please find the synopsis as follows:

“When Lilly is eight years old, her pot-smoking hippie British parents leave her at a Sufi shrine in Morocco and inform her they will be back to collect her in three days. Three weeks later, she learns they've been murdered. Lilly fills that haunted hollow in her life with the intense study of the Qur'an under the watchful eye of the saint's disciple she was entrusted to. Years later, her journey from Morocco to Harar, Ethiopia, is half pilgrimage, half flight. In Harar, even her traditional Muslim head scarves cannot hide her white skin in her strange new surroundings; the word farenji - foreigner - is hissed at her at every turn. She eventually builds a life for herself falling in love with an idealistic young doctor. But the two are wrenched apart when Lilly is again forced to flee, this time to London. Despite her British roots, Lilly discovers she is as much of an outsider in London as she was in Harar.
This is an unforgettable journey between two distinct worlds: the ancient walled city of Harar and the racially charged atmosphere of 1980's London. Camilla Gibb's elegant narrative evokes the stinging disconnect between Lilly's attempt to start anew and her inability to let go of the past. Lilly's story is laced with longing and regret, but above all hope - hope that time and love can heal the wounds of a life left behind. Gibb has pulled off an astounding feat with this stunning novel. Never has the distinct and troubled story of this corner of Ethiopia been told with such clarity, warmth, humanity, and grace.”

Product details
Title: Sweetness in the Belly
ISBN: 9780143038726
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (March 2007)
Paperback: 368 pages
Price: IDR 149,000

Available at Periplus Bookshop nationwide

Camilla Gibb was born in London, England, but grew up and currently lives in Toronto. She has a Ph.D in social anthropology from Oxford University for which she conducted fieldwork in Ethiopia. Her two previous novels, Mouthings the Words and The Petty Details of So-and-So's Life, have been published in eighteen countries, receiving rare reviews all around the world. She is one of twenty-one young writers to watch on the Orange Futures List compiled by the jury of the prestigious Orange Prize. Sweetness in the Belly was recently short-listed for the Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award.

Reviews

“A novel that will take you to a place so far from yourself that you may wonder, from time to time, whether you are ever coming back." San Francisco Chronicle (March 26, 2006)

"A sophisticated, ambitious and deeply affecting novel which is devastatingly relevant to our contemporary world." Giller Prize jury

"Sweetness in the Belly is remarkable for its geographic, thematic and historic amplitude and breadth, depicting the multi-cultural and modern world. Gibb, singled out as one of the Orange Futures writers, is certainly one to watch." The Birmingham Post

"Sweetness in the Belly...reflect(s) the pain, cultural relocation and uncertainty of tribal, political and religious refugees the world over. Gibb's territory is urgently modern and controversial but she enters it softly, with grace, integrity and a lovely compassionate story. A poem to belief and to the displaced--humane, resonant, original, impressive." Kirkus (starred review)

"With sure-handed, urgent prose...the novel fluently speaks the "languages of religion and exile," depicting both the multifaceted heartbreak of those lucky enough to escape violent regime changes and the beauty of unlikely bonds created by the modern multicultural world." Publishers Weekly

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