GREAT INSPIRATION

A writer's legacy

Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Wednesday 28 May 2014

Whenever a group gathers, the value of their collective purpose is multiplied many times and the capacity to do good is increased manifold.

 So it is important to join those groups that gather to educate, inform, and contribute. This was the case last weekend when over 50,000 people gathered in Auckland to listen to 150 global writers.

 They came from disciplines across all sectors…creative, mathematics, history, theology, physics, art and entrepreneurship. For example Pulitzer prize winning author, Alice Walker was there as was this year’s Booker Award winner, Eleanor Catton.

 What struck me about all these people was their humility and willingness to share insights with those who might aspire to follow in their footsteps. There is plenty of room in this world for high aspirations. The underlying message was, ‘you will join us if you work hard'. Where you start is irrelevant.  Sir Ray Avery began his journey as a runaway orphan living under a bridge in England. Sandi Toksvig is the daughter of  high achieving parents. Her father worked as the Danish foreign correspondent in New York.

 My one regret was I didn’t get to see Alice Walker whose writing and fearless work has inspired me ever since her ground breaking novel, ‘ The Colour Purple’ came out.

 These writers have proven anything is possible. They the ones to hold up as role models as their success can be ours.

 French mathematician Jacques Roubaud, at 85 years old is a European academic statesman with a huge career as a professor of mathematics and poetry.

 Although author of Mathematics (a novel) he is also a practitioner of the ‘constrained writing technique’. When he recited the poem below the inflections of his voice filled the room with ironic meaning. It was marvellous.

LIFE: SONNET

    000000 0000 01

    011010 111 001

    101011 101 001

    110011 0011 01 ….

And on it goes.

 I recall the twinkle in his eye and hear the inflections of his voice as I read it. And the French accent takes a lot of beating.

That was the beginning of what became the most wonderful two days in a long time. Jim Ali Khalili, a world leader in science was asked ‘when will the world end’. This sent a chuckle through the auditorium and set him up to debate the universe, black holes, the big bang theory and the concept of time.  Holding his hand up he said that his watch now ran at a fraction of a second slower than it had when he had his hand down. The further we move away from the centre of gravity the slower time goes….only by tiny fractions but time has to be adjusted on satellites to accommodate this change so that signals arrive back on earth within the right time frame.

 An hour with Danish/British writer, comedian and broadcaster, Sandi Toskvig was riveting.  She was entertaining, insightful and delightful. After ditching Sean Plunkett as her chair, a kind of political statement on its own, she went on to tell us about a trip she made to Kawerau to watch a woman’s boxing match. A strong exponent of women’s rights she talked about the power of boxing to make woman feel in control and able to defend themselves .

 She had many anecdotes. The one I absolutely loved was of the moon landing when she was at NASA with her parents. She came upon a visibly upset woman and held her hand to calm her.  It turned out later she was holding Neil Armstrong’s secretary’s hand. What a memory! Eventually she left the stage so that Sean Plunkett could establish the format of chairing the session. He brought her in and set about chairing the session. Every session Sean Plunkett chaired was well managed. He allowed the guest to be the star and drew them out with short, succinct questions.

 The next day was highlighted by a debate on the Gender Divide. We learned from Sandy that women still were not well represented in the senior areas of the BBC. When Booker Award winner Eleanor Catton was asked which writers influenced her the most she answered George Eliot, Jane Austen and others from that time.  That highlighted the legacy these writers leave. Imagine influencing writers, including a Booker Award winner two and a half centuries on from when you lived? Now that is Awesome