Fern Ridge (Safla Rama) Digest

The forest world I was born into has given me the poetic sensibilities. On my return early in January 2019 to Ulighembi village to film the forest world I was awakened to those sensibilities by the birds that welcomed me along the forest walk. It was not a retrace of my journey out of the forest world, but spiritual connection I needed to make with the divided self I have burned myself with for 55 years of my life. I am divided in diametrically opposed ways and yet remain fragmented in different angles.   What could be a disaster was averted because I maintain one foot in the culture and tradition of my people and the other foot in the western world I have accepted as I journeyed out of the forest world. Much to the deepest part of me I found myself coming alive as we entered the forest. I took in the sound, the smell, the sight, and the light and dark of the forest. It was a treasure of emotional blessing to be born in a forest world. I relished every footstep taken and e...

Tufi Escape Creative Cities Southern Hui is excited to welcome STEVEN EDMUND WINDUO as delegate and guest speaker. Steven will be visiting Dunedin, from Papua New Guinea, for the duration of the Hui, participating in events and speaking at   Creative Connections   on Thursday 30th November.  'I think of myself as a rower of the ocean, taking the winds and currents of Oceania, traveling in and out of islands, around islands, carrying with me the burden of our collective experiences, always rowing to get somewhere to link up all our peoples, and teaching our people and others to appreciate our cultures, arts, way of life and knowledge systems.' Steven Winduo is a writer and scholar from Papua New Guinea. He has read his works in homeland, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Minnesota, Hawaii, and the Philippines.   His first collection of poetry,   Lomo’ha I am, in Spirit’s Voice I Call   (1991), was published during his MA studie...

Writing runs in the blood as demonstrated here with the publication of books that Cheryl Winduo and Langston Winduo have written as part of their composition exercise in Grade 5 class at Waigani Primary School, National Capital District. I reworked the stories with them over time to get them published as Children's books.  From their imagination to these books is a journey of discovery. It is refreshing to think that their books connects them to my literary world even if they do not write another book in their lifetime. Cheryl has written another book, which is ready for publication. These books are written for children between the ages of 8-10 years old. Light reading with illustrations on each page. Good books for elementary and lower primary schools. Working on Cheryl and Langston's books I was inspired to write two books also for children. Great materials for school children to read. Cheryl  is studying Linguistics and Langston is stud...

  It is challenging to write fiction, based on actual history, than on pure imagination. The challenge is to be as close to history, but aided with literary license to reconstruct a storyline that maps out the narrative. The technique known as fictionalizing history is taken on board to plough the field of history and fiction to make something grow out of it. Land Echoes (2014) is my first novel based on my grandfather, Holonia Jilaka, whose life inspired this book. Although not a biography the novel’s timeline is based on the part of my grandfather’s history. I recorded my grandfather’s story on tape when I was a UPNG student many years ago. The part that I was interested in was the part where he went to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea in 1933 as a shepherd boy with the Catholic missionaries. He spent three years (1933-1935) in Simbu area before being discharged as a mission boy. He then joined the police force, taking his training in Rabaul depot under the instru...