Bone Talk

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In any case, the fight scenes/violence were graphic even for kids 10-12 yrs of age, but I think this os necessary to amplify the voice and the struggles of our primary character, Samkad. I felt the inner voices telling him as he did things, even sometimes it felt like a move out of instinct. I was pleased to see that Is It A Mermaid? was chosen by Empathy Lab for their 2019 Read for Empathy Guide. Can you tell us a little bit more about the inspiration behind the story and the process of working with Francesca Chessa, the illustrator?

Were there any parts of ‘Bone Talk’ that you particularly liked writing? Were there any parts or scenes that were especially difficult? Gourlay has built a compellingly believable world of a people in an evocatively depicted world – in this case, it looks to me like the Cordillera’s Igorot people – on the cusp of being drawn into the state as the colonising world arrives with gusto. Samkad is an engaging narrator, excited by his changing status, keen to reach manhood and grappling with his responsibilities to his community, to his ancestors and to his friends and family. She has managed to avoid many of the Orientalist traps and myths of the ‘noble savage’ that could have tainted this and in doing so has constructed an image of Igorot life fitting for this realist genre: I look forward to reading Igorot novelists telling their own stories. In the meantime, we’ve got a well-cast young adult novel opening up a largely untold tale of the USA’s empire alongside an empathetic image of an Indigenous community still marginalised in Philippines life.

Candy Gourlay once again dazzled me with her humor, wit and storytelling. I literally laughed out loud at one point when she started a chapter with this line, ...no talk of my manhood, after a series of action filled narratives. This is Samkad speaking and there I find the typical teenager. Irrational. Emotional. Impulsive. Self centered. I remember myself at twelve years old during the height of the People Power Revolution. I worried about my grade school graduation. Never mind if tanks and soldiers were moving and marching on EDSA. I need to graduate by March!

Candy Gourlay tells this brilliant adventure story from the point of view of a young Filipino boy from a time and place that most readers will know nothing about– and certainly from a previously unheard voice (most of what is written about the time is by Americans writing as tourists, anthropologists and conquerors).

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We are thrilled to welcome author Candy Gourlay into The Reading Realm today to discuss Bone Talk, Shine, and Is It A Mermaid? But everything changes when a new boy arrives in the village. He calls himself Samkad’s brother, yet he knows nothing of the ways of the mountain. And he brings news of a people called ‘Americans’, who are bringing war and destruction right to his home . . .