A digital dilemma, ebooks ...

... Ebooks, eBooks, e-books, E-Books, e-Books, or E-books … I am having a deep inner conflict, not just about how to spell it.

Gypsies Stop tHere is now a Kindle eBook - at last. Might as well go with the flow, I thought, or what will be regarded by future generations as a technological revolution. Ironic really; it’s only a few months since I was in rebellious mode. Step back for a moment to this piece about breaking all the rules, just last year! http://catherineryanhoward.com/2010/03/05/miriamwakerly/

The world of publishing is evolving apace! With the extraordinary rise of e-books, sales currently outstripping printed books I understand, no wonder many new authors are now taking the independent publishing route. In fact, how many authors with long-established publishers have changed tack? Comments on these questions would be very welcome, - or answers, if you happen to have them.

(I rejected digital print as cost-ineffective. However, it is an option for a writer-publisher who wants a modest print-run. )

So Gypsies Stop tHere, my first novel published in print 2008, is now available for the e-reading world to purchase! US, UK and German Amazon. Wonderful! At a bargain price. No print costs. 70% royalty on Kindle. Naturally, I am thinking about the guy recently in the news as the first independent author to sell 1 million Ebooks. http://mashable.com/2011/06/20/john-locke-1-million-ebooks/

Did you read about a leading public school that has been actively ridding itself of its library, its students now using iPads instead? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-13426491 With two more books in progress, should I bother with print at all? Clearly e-Books are the future and my choice is not going to make a jot of difference to the overall trend! I am but one stitch in the vast tapestry of publishing.

But, but, but … Should I worry about what will happen to bookshops as this ebook trend is pursued by authors? My helpful and supportive friends in Waterstone’s? And libraries? Books – that I love to have, hold, read, possess and cherish? And publishers? Agents? The printers? The natural conclusion could be their collective demise. I do not want that.

Or, will ebooks and printed books co-exist happily forever? This, by the way, is a hypothetical question, but if anyone wants to give it a go, they are welcome.

Now, I need to make sure people will find my book. More on this in a few weeks time …

PS Here is a link to a Guardian article re the statistics to clarify in what sense ebooks are allegedly outstripping print - note that it compares against hardbacks and this is for the US. http://bit.ly/nmPGAS

Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month

Have you heard of Travellers Got Talent?

No? Well, June is Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month. It began three or four years ago. Various events displaying and exploring the culture and traditions of Gypsies, Travellers and Roma take place around the country. It is hoped that the general public will be interested, curious and intrigued enough to go to these events. From my experience it is quite a rare thing for this often secretive community to reach out to the wider public. If Big Fat Gypsy Weddings can attract nearly 9 m viewers, and Appleby Fair now attracting hoards of onlookers, then there should be people queuing up for events. This is the real thing and they are usually free of charge.

Sadly, it would seem that funding cuts have curtailed some plans for this year, as you can see from the limited information available on http://www.grthm.co.uk/events-SE.php Events relate only to last year. However, the good news is that Travellers Got Talent is there!

http://www.grthm.co.uk/travellers-got-talent-2011.php 'A Gypsy Life for Me' 'an 8 hour series' will be broadcast on Sky TV based on the footage. More about this on Travellers Times: http://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/

If you find an event going on in your area - keep your eye out - then do let me know. I will then put it here on my blog.

GRTHM London seems to be flourishing http://www.grthmlondon.org.uk/ Even I am on there tucked away in Resources - Publications http://bit.ly/mUMQ2E

So - I hope to hear about anything you hear about where you live!
via Twitter @MiriamWakerly or leave a comment right here.

More media stuff on BFGW

Update on Friday 25 Feb http://ht.ly/43c1W A more realistic picture of Traveller women? The Guardian

The Guardian http://bit.ly/e3lHEV This is the opening paragraph of my 2nd BFGW blog dated 7 February

Channel 4’s plans in The Times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/article2913541.ece Oh no not more ... ! (You need to subscribe to access this.) I doubt Romany Gypsies will be taking part.

Surrey Heath Residents Blog http://bit.ly/h8tQWa This is my recorded interview - gets off to a slow start, but warms up, so stick with it to the end. Excuse the scary photo (who took that?)

Article with Damien le Bas http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/article2913526.ece Damien is a Romany, Oxford graduate and was on The One Show.

A Guardian article by David Altheer with 256 comments !http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/05/gypsies-society-traveller-community
Not to do with BFGW but a lovely positive story from Phoebe Buckley, top level equestrian, Romany Gypsy. 'Against the Grain' R4. http://bbc.in/fBfdYe

Excellent article I missed earlier on 11 Feb Gypsies: tramps and thieves. I urge all to read. http://bit.ly/hVDhRX The link was in Travellers Times Newsletter.

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings not so bad?

SINCE WRITING THIS POST I SAW THIS! Jake Bowers speaking for the Romany Gypsy community: http://bit.ly/h9TldF on Daybreak.

I may be revising my view of Channel 4 documentary, dubbed ‘mockumentary’. I hope it really does help relations between Gypsies and non-Gypsies, rather than make for more bad feeling. Excellent representation on BBC Breakfast show this week. http://bbc.in/e0kK5J

For booklovers interested in an easy and entertaining read on Gypsies and Travellers today, and our relationships with them, you may like to take a look at my novels. They are set in the fictitious English village, Appley Green. Many of the issues that are being raised in Channel 4's programme are woven into the stories.

When I began my research 6 or 7 years ago nobody was talking about Gypsies or Travellers very much. From their history to the modern-day shortage of stopping-places, I realised I had found a fascinating subject that few people understood. I visited many Gypsy sites at places close by, including: Chobham, Hartley Wintney, Leatherhead, Ash and, indeed, the famous Irish Traveller site, Westway, in London. I spoke to a lot of Gypsies and Travellers as well as reading books by professors who have done the same thing. I attend Gypsy and Traveller meetings and hear about their problems first-hand. I also did and still do a lot of thinking!

My novels have been described as an ‘easy way in’ for a non-Gypsy. Bridie Page, A Romany Gypsy, with Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group said, “Miriam has captured the essence of Romany/Traveller life managing to merge old and new seamlessly. A right riveting read!”

Sue Cook, Broadcaster and Writer, “Wakerly’s books do a wonderful job in helping to promote understanding where there is ignorance and tolerance where there is bigotry. I recommend them heartily.”

Gypsies Stop tHere (2008) and No Gypsies Served (2010). Click on some links to find out more:
Amazon http://amzn.to/hwfhdj and http://amzn.to/gXhX7h

Reviews: http://bit.ly/cBwzMK 2 reviews on http://onevodrom.blogspot.com/ (do a search on my name, they come up straight away)

http://tinyurl.com/ygymoae

http://www.strongmanpublishing.com/

I am now actually looking forward to the next episode - but hope I don't have to do another U-turn. Am going to a Gypsy and Traveller Forum in a week's time and will find out how the community are feeling about the series by then. At the moment, they are not happy. See Travellers Times http://bit.ly/fZPBHR

Another Grumble on Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

I understand Channel 4’s aim to achieve high ratings. To suck in an audience that might ultimately consider more serious aspects of Gypsy and Traveller life and culture, you need to lighten up first. I get that. But at what cost? By sensationalising, then deliberately selecting and focusing on the more controversial things that ‘make good television’, the producers of this series have compromised on truth a step too far. The interest has brought out truly poisonous comments – yes I have seen them on Twitter too. Referred to in a TV guide as ‘gently mocking’, I find the voice-over so apparently benign as to border on sinister. Mocking and encouraging others to mock is more damaging than people perhaps realise and affects the lives of countless people trying to find accommodation, bring up their children and earn an honest living. Romany Gypsies are outraged and aggrieved that there is no distinction made between them and Irish Travellers. (I hope they do not mind me speaking for them.) Now they have seen the way TV has chosen to display the Irish Travellers, I doubt they will ever open up to reveal some of the truths about their own culture. And who can blame them? Romany Gypsies are, on the whole, proud to be called Gypsy. Irish Travellers are not generally referred to as Gypsies, which makes the title of the programme a nonsense – and harmful too. I did a post on this on 12 February 2010 – it is complicated and mistakes can easily be made. The Race Relations Act helped to bring about this confusion by lumping together the two groups into one ethnic group for purposes of legislation and rights pertaining to travelling people, or sedentary people with a heritage of travelling. Romany Gypsies, who account for a much higher percentage of this overall group than Irish Travellers, are so far removed from this picture we see on our screens, they are appalled and probably despair at the stupidity of non-Gypsies who watch it. I hope Romany Gypsies do not mind me speaking on their behalf; they are certainly speaking up for themselves too. You can see why Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month (June each year) keeps to its title, which it has to be said does not trip easily off the tongue. To reduce it to an umbrella term would be wrong. They are different and distinct groups of people – albeit with some similarities. From giving talks on the subject, I know all too well how difficult it is to get people to listen. People come armed with questions and opinions before even hearing another point of view – I am told the term for this is ‘cognitive dissonance’. Prejudice is another term for it. I do try to comment on this whole debacle in an even tone with facts and references to substantial reports, but underneath I am FURIOUS at the damage that this programme may have done. People are working hard to improve relationships between Gypsies and Travellers and non-gypsies, by fostering more understanding and knowledge. There is a huge wound that needs to be healed, not gouged out and left to fester. The more people are exposed to these negative portrayals, the less tolerance there will be for a people who by and large just want to care for their families and earn a living. Their overriding concern it to secure accommodation. The more others dislike and object, the more unauthorised encampments there will be and the more objections there will be, in an endless vicious circle. If the wider community could just stop a minute, regard Gypsies and Travellers as individual human beings, not object when a local council proposes a small site in their area, then the ‘mess and damage’ so often quoted against them might be consigned to history.

Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

Could not let TV Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Wedding go by without offering a few thoughts – could I? It wouldn’t be right!

Firstly, these were, going by their accents, Irish Travellers rather than Romany Gypsies. Please correct me, someone, if I am wrong. They rarely mix.

People scoff, ridicule, and look down upon the sheer brash lavishness, bright pink vulgarity, the width and weight of the dresses and so on. They will decry the 'sexual attacks’ in the apparent ‘grabbing’ rituals, the brainwashing of young girls into early marriage, a lifetime of childbearing and polishing, with no career options, that turns the clock back … I have read and heard many times over that Gypsies are known for saying what people want to hear, which they openly admit, and the girls seemed only too happy to gyrate and posture for what the cameras wanted to shoot. Displaying the ‘big knickers’; un-British ignorance of Audrey Hepburn (not that surprising considering the age group); and arguably the most ungainly walk a bride has ever managed in the history of weddings, caused no apparent embarrassment. Just pure enjoyment it seemed, in some unreal bubble of a world where modest virgins dress like tarts. Makes for good television. Yes, I know all that, but moving on.

Did you notice the underlying positives? How happy and healthy the people in this programme were? Shiny hair, bright eyes, beautiful skin, bodacious physiques? How spotless their clothes and everything about them? What a lovely sense of humour? The loyalty to family and kinship group? In some ways the (I have to say, adorable) children seemed socially mature and kind to each other. Girls living their dream, however absurd it may seem from the outside. No apparent hang-ups or grudges. No sex or alcohol before marriage, no drugs, and teenage girls never allowed to be with a boy alone before marriage. Young men who claim to take family and financial responsibilities very seriously. If you compare and contrast with some non-Gypsies they come out rather well. Well, how controversial.

In Gypsies Stop tHere, Lena is a young Romany Gypsy wife and mother of two little boys, who is cast out from her community. As you can see, in the context of this programme showing the powerful sense of belonging that is the linchpin of Gypsy and Traveller culture, this is the worst thing that can happen to a Gypsy. Also in No Gypsies Served, Dunstan, a half-Gypsy or didakoi, left his family at the age of 16 and you can see some of the consequences. It is unlikely to happen, but is a ‘what if’ scenario.

The programme did help to demonstrate why their culture persists; the difficulties of breaking away, or their lack of any wish to do so, stood out.

I am looking forward to the next episode and would love to hear your views – especially if you are a Gypsy or Traveller.

Fiction Slips into Reality

It really is stranger than fiction when fiction becomes reality. Last week I felt as if I had stepped into a scene from my own novel Gypsies Stop tHere.

The public meeting was to discuss proposals for an inevitable development at Deepcut. The plan is for a ‘rural village’ utilising the footprint of the Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut following its disbandment in a couple of years’ time. The process has reached the stage of inviting responses to Surrey Heath Borough Council Draft Strategic Planning Document (SPD) and four design options are offered; briefly linear, ‘one-heart’, ‘two heart’ or High Street based.

The key issues were predictable and understandable: traffic, traffic, traffic, roads, traffic and various pros and cons of the new development. Naturally, as local people, we are extremely anxious about the impact that additional housing, shops and amenities will have on our area. Anyone reading this who is interested in the details can of course follow on http://surreyheath-residents.co.uk/2010/12/16/deepcut-development-public-meeting-a-fantastic-turnout/

It was when someone queried the possible inclusion of a few Gypsy pitches that I particularly listened up. ‘Here we go’ I thought. And indeed we did.

Firstly the difficulty with which the local Councillor had in addressing this question wins my sympathy. When I give talks to groups, the minute I show signs of siding with the Gypsies and Travellers, hostility mounts. For anyone in local politics, or indeed national politics, this is not a vote-winner and he wants to retain his position. All he could say was that Gypsies had no connection with the area and would not belong, or words to that effect. Of course, they are widely deemed not to belong anywhere and thus it has been through the centuries and, in the case of Romany Gypsies, right across Europe since they left India over 1,000 years ago.

The frustrating thing is that the very people who object exacerbate the ‘problem’ of unauthorised sites. As a rule, those tucked-away sites (how many of you have been on one?) where the amenities are in place and functioning, are kept immaculately and would put many of us householders to shame. I wish I was as tidy! Romany Gypsies take enormous pride in keeping their trailers neat and polished, themselves and their children squeaky clean. I am embarrassed that I have to patronise them in this way by saying this, but it seems it is necessary.

I heard typical unthinking comments that saddened and angered me. One person commented on the possibility of Gypsies being part of the community, along the lines, ‘What! and near a play centre?’ as if this were some plan for a leper colony or establishment for free-range convicts. Someone else commented with words to the effect, ‘Well obviously, this is not something we would want here, is it, everyone?’ Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are human beings who at times may seem outwardly defensive, but are actually so cowed by public opinion, they stick together and rarely appear to defend themselves at such meetings. They may be different in some ways; their old values are strongly towards family loyalty, living close to nature, being self-reliant, resourceful and not relying on the state. Bad press over the years and, arguably, unsightly behaviour of New Age Travellers who have sprung from mainstream society – yes, the likes of you and me - seem to have inculcated a different view in the public consciousness. Of course there are good and bad in all sections of society, but sticking labels on an entire group of people can only be bad – and indeed possibly illegal.

I am not going into all the reasons why this kind of bigoted racism should be a thing of the past; or why this group of people still sometimes chooses to live on the periphery. My books do enough and I give talks to resistant groups of people until I am blue in the face. I see things from the other side; attending Gypsy and Traveller forums; visiting sites where the antiquated drainage system overflows after a storm, and ‘sheds’ used for washing clothes and bathing children are freezing, and so on. For this the people pay rents and taxes – for a bit of hard standing, running water and electricity. Their home they provide themselves. I was invited to go to a workshop in Leatherhead on Thursday addressing issues relating to education of Traveller children; parents want their children to go to school, get qualifications and a good job. People are working very hard now to bring these people in from the cold. You may have seen Lord Avebury’s response to my piece on Pennypot Lane. http://bit.ly/a68k74

I would be pleased to see a small Gypsy site integrated with the new Deepcut proposals. Let us go down in history as being the first to actually welcome (some will say I am back in fiction again) this ethnic group. This is not to promote my books; my involvement has gone way beyond that, but I hope they do help to foster greater understanding. I’ve heard all the arguments during the past seven years or so I’ve been into this subject. It’s time we all stopped pre-judging and showed some humanity.