Nov 06 2009
An appetite for conversations
I’ve had a really good run of interviews lately – just thought I should post some links up before they disappear forever from the Primetime Morning page. One of the ones I am particularly proud of is this one that I did with Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize Laureate and political activist.
He was in town for the Sun Festival and I got a chance to sit him down and talk about his writing, his dreams (at the grand age of 75) and his political views. I’ll admit freely that before I met him I only had a vague idea of Nigerian history and its political struggles. Of course, like any interviewer worth her salt, I did quite a bit of research before I actually did the interview. Still there’s nothing like hearing it firsthand from someone who experienced it. The best interviews I do transport me into someone’s thoughts and memories – and I really hope that that comes across when the interview goes to air. What really moved me was when he talked about how he had come to a certain acceptance that the “utopia” he wished for Nigeria would not come to pass in his lifetime – but that didn’t mean he would stop trying to make the world a more fair and honourable place.
Somewhat more lighthearted, but no less intellectual really was my interview cum cooking session with Chinese cookbook writer Fuchsia Dunlop.
I’d actually written a paper on her memoir about eating in China as part of an independent study module I did for my ongoing Masters in English Lit that I’m doing in NUS. It was about cultural transformation through food and it’s truly fascinating how Fuchsia has really taken on an incredible amount of Chineseness (if there is such a thing) through learning, cooking and eating all manner of Chinese foods. Her command of Mandarin, especially it’s specialized culinary vocabulary is astounding and never fails to impress Chinese chefs. I love the way she describes falling in love with spicy Sichuanese cuisine and also the very astute observations she has about China’s gastronomic culture and how that will be the way out of its food scandals. I definitely recommend the memoir, although being the half-baked Chinese cook that I am, her cookbooks are a little intimidating!
And of course… now the Neil Gaiman interview is up on the website! Neil has graciously credited me on his blog which is making my blog stats go a bit nuts with Gaiman fans. Sorry to disappoint! I am neither macabre nor fantastical! But if you are curious about the interviews… they are up here and here. Enjoy!
It actually really shocked me how much they enjoyed all the feeding of sheep, rabbits, llamas, etc… Sometimes I think the world we live in is too much a virtual one and being able to get outdoors into wide open spaces with other living things, that’s always a good thing…
Joanne Leow is a producer-presenter with Channel NewsAsia. She is married with 2 young sons and spends her free time reading, writing, swimming, doing yoga and cooking up a storm.