Author Derek Schuurman co-wrote The Globetrotter Travel Pack to Madagascarwith Antananarivo-based tourism expert Nivo Ravelojaona. Derek spoke with me about their travel book which is now in its 4th edition.
BREAKAWAY DAILY: What led to the two of you collaborating to write the Globetrotter Guide to Madagascar?
DEREK:
Nivo and I have now been working together for 22 years, specializing in responsible tourism to Madagascar. An author friend of ours, Ian Sinclair, recommended me to the publishers back in 1994. They invited me to write the first edition and I felt it appropriate to ask Nivo to cover the history and cultural sections, as she is Malagasy: I feel that those particular sections of any guide book are so much more effective and authentic when written by people from the countries which the books feature.
Josh Hancock is a teacher and author. His first novel, The Girls of October, is inspired by his love of all things horror–especially John Carpenter’s Halloween, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and William Friedkin’s The Exorcist.
The Girls of October tells the story of a young woman who develops a strange fascination with John Carpenter’s Halloween, believing that somewhere within the 1978 horror classic lays the truth behind an arcane force that has terrorized her since her childhood. As an escape from a world that has not always been kind, film student Beverly Dreger takes comfort in spooky urban legends, horror movies, and monster magazines.
BREAKAWAY DAILY: When did you first realize you had a passion for entertainment?
FRANKIE: I realized I had a passion for entertainment when I was 7 years old. The first solo I sang in church was entitled I Shall Wear a Crown! After seeing the congregation’s reaction, I knew then I was destined for greatness in the entertainment industry.
BREAKAWAY DAILY: Who have been some of your earliest influences?
FRANKIE: My early influences were Lecresia Campbell, Toni Braxton, Kirk Franklin and Family, Michael Jackson, and Donnie McClurkin.
Othello comes from a long pantheon of great characters written by the master himself, Shakespeare. Having seen various incarnations of the character in an array of settings it would take something fairly fresh and inventive to see another. Back in the summer of September 2014 at the Drayton Arms I got just that. An exciting update of an old tale revived and told through fresh eyes, modern context and a young and vivacious cast. This led up by Ben Kavanagh as the scheming Iago, Felicity McCormack as the rebooted stronger but still loyal Desdemona, Kate Cooper as the cynical Emilia, Fergus Leathem as the upstanding Cassio and Hainsley Lloyd Bennett as Othello himself.
In an era of films that are littered with comic books, book adaptations, remakes, reboots, rehashes and re-imaginings its increasingly difficult to find something new or original as studios clamber for familiarity to draw audiences in. So when I stumbled on the Kickstarter for indie drama White Awake it wasn’t just a breath of fresh air but a perpetual gust of wind slapping me in the face and demanding my attention. What immediately struck me about the project was the tone, subtle understated but with a real undercurrent of passion and emotion by a filmmaker who knew the film he wanted to make.
Hainsley Lloyd Bennett has enjoyed success as a model as well as actor in film, theatre, music videos, television, and virals. He has been in commercials for corporations such as McDonalds, The Times, Rubicon, Burger King and Boots. Hainsley has made television appearances in the longstanding British drama Casualty as well as Papuan kidnapper Yudas
in the true story documentary My Holiday Hostage Hell and starred in the
BBC series Crimewatch. Hainsley’s first feature film was London
Boulevard where he played alongside Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone, Keira
Knightley and Ben Chaplin.
Self taught composer Zaalen Tallis was born into a very creative and musical family from Perth, Western Australia and has been composing music since he was the age of twelve. He played the trombone and studied classical and jazz music for a very brief time in his early teen years however he left studying music to just focus on creating music. Since then he has composed music for projects in Australia, America and China and has been nominated four times for Best Original Music Award at the West Australian Screen Awards and in 2004 he received the Western Australian Swan District Education Award for Excellence In Music.
Italian born Flavio Sala has been captivating all kinds of audiences around the world with his amazing abilities on the guitar. He has played as a soloist and with orchestras around the world, in important festivals, theatres and concert halls. No matter if he is playing Bach or Santana Flavio Sala moves hot only his fingers, but his audience. After releasing several albums as a soloist and featuring renowned artists from Classical, Flamenco, Jazz, Latin, Pop and Rock, he has just released his new discographical project “Mi Guitarra y Mis Amores” (“My Guitar and My Loves”).