FEAST OR FAMINE

Lawn Boy (2018) is set in Washington State in America. Mike Muñoz, a Chicano Mexican-American boy, is the narrator, describing his life in a dysfunctional family. When he sees a picture of the manicured gardens of Disneyland, he is hooked on lawns.  He dreams of being a garden landscaper, but those dreams seem a long way off when his family are evicted from their rental home and they live in a 1987 Astro van: “I wish I could tell you it was an adventure, at least for the first few days, but it wasn’t. The experience was terrifying from the start.” Weekends were the worst, but the library was open on Saturdays and church was open on Sundays.  He gets a job with a landscaping crew, but is fired. What now? No matter what he tries to do, he can’t get off the bottom rung of life’s ladder: “Clearly, I was the biggest loser ever.” At twenty-two years of age, life is unfair, he is full of self-pity, and he is as mad as heck. Yes, Mike is an angry young man, but ...

MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Victory Square in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, was erected in 1984 on the 40th anniversary of the Liberation of the USSR.   The memorial had three giant red granite ‘ribs’ representing a yurt—a traditional home. The statue represents a woman waiting for her husband to return from war. A Guard of Honour from the National Guard of Kyrgyzstan protects the eternal flame. The Changing of the Guard occurs every hour. MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Kanybek Davletov is the People’s Artist of Kyrgyzstan. He was born in 1957 in Kyrgyzstan. From 1974 to 1978 he studied at the Chuikov College of Art. Afterwards, he continued his education at Moscow V. Surikov State Academy of Fine Arts. He completed his doctorate at Kyrgyzstan Academy of Fine Arts Creativity Workshop, between the years 1990-1992.  Davletov is also a member of the Kyrgyz Republic Artists Union. He is a professor and member of the board of directors of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Kyrgyzstan. Davletov also holds the title of Honorary Professor conferred upon by Harbin Commerce University in China.  He has participated in national and international exhibitions since 1984, exhibiting in the Russian Ministry of Culture, Moscow State Museum of Eastern Peoples’ Fine Arts, and the Kyrgyz National Fine Arts Museum, as well as private collections in Italy, Canada, Russia, America, Germany, and in other countries. MA...

MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author  of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).